The Builder Magazine - The Complete Collection

The Builder Magazine

December 1926 - Volume XII - Number 12

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Political Anti-Masonry, 1827-1843 - By BRO. ERIK MCKINLEY ERIKSSON,
PH.D.

Old Convivial Craft Customs By BRO. WILLIAM L. BOYDEN, Washington, D. C.

The Comacines and the Traveling Gilds - By BRO. W. RAVENSCROFT, England

The Gild and the Lodge - By BROS. A. L. KRESS AND R. J. MEEKREN

FURTHER NOTES ON THE GILD - By Bro. W. RAVENSCROFT

The Background of Masonic History in the 18th Century By PROF. E. E.
BOOTHROYD, Canada

EDITORIAL
MISUNDERSTANDING
WALTER CLIFFORD BURRELL

THE NORTHEAST CORNER - Bulletin of the National Masonic Tuberculosis
Sanatoria Association

The Precious Jewels - By BROS. A. L. KRESS AND R. J. MEEKREN - (Continued)

THE WOMEN ARE INTERESTED

"HOW SOON CAN I BE GIVEN TREATMENT?"

THE LIBRARY

THE LIFE OF HENRY HOWARD MOLYNEUX HERBERT, FOURTH EARL OF
CARNARVON, 1831-1890

DEBITS AND CREDITS

THE MAN NOBODY KNOWS

THE BOOK NOBODY KNOWS

THE QUESTION BOX and CORRESPONDENCE
THE YOUNG MAN WITH GREAT POSSESSIONS
MORGAN AND THE OBLIGATION
THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN AT JERUSALEM
THE COMPASSES

THE POSITION OF THE LESSER LIGHTS
REQUEST FOR BACK NUMBERS

— o —

Political Anti-Masonry, 1827-1843

By BRO. ERIK MCKINLEY ERIKSSON, PH. D.

WHETHER viewed in its cultural, economic, social, religious or political aspects,
there is no period in American history more fascinating than is the Jacksonian period.
It was an era characterized by change and controversy in every field. It was a period
of triumphant democracy in which the fight for free public schools was first
successfully waged. American literature reached a high plane and some of the greatest
American writers of all time flourished during the epoch. Canals, roads and railroads
were rapidly developed, inventions multiplied, agriculture flourished, trade and
commerce rapidly expanded, and improvements on an unprecedented scale were
projected, only to be stopped by the panic of 1837.

The period saw the beginning of the organized labor movement, the launching of the
real movement for the abolition of slavery, the rise of the woman's rights movements,
the development of an organized movement against intoxicating liquors, and progress
towards abolition of imprisonment for debts. Improvement was brought about in the
care of the insane and advancement was made in prison reform. The organized peace
movement was definitely projected during this era. Communistic experiments were
made on a large scale, though more after 1840 than before. It was a period of
religious readjustment and change. Especially in the newer sections of the country the
evangelical churches made great gains. Unitarianism assumed an organized form and
took its stand beside Universalism in the fight between liberalism and orthodoxy in
religion. The year 1830 saw the organization in New York of the Mormon Church. It
was, in fact, a period of "isms"— and this should not be overlooked in explaining why
it was possible to organize, during the period, such a fanatical party as was the Anti-
Masonic.

Even surpassing all these things in interest was the political history of the period.
Space does not permit a discussion of the heated controversies which raged over such
matters as the civil service, the Second Bank of the United states, internal
improvements, the removal of the Indians west of the Mississippi River, foreign
relations, the specie circular and the distribution of the surplus. Rather, attention must
be focused on the political party development of the period, especially on the abortive
attempt to build a great national party on the basis of opposition to the Masonic
Institution.

Viewed from the standpoint of national history the Anti-Masonic party would be of
little importance were it not for the fact that during its short life it contributed to our
national political system the national nominating convention and at least the "germ"
of the national platform. From the Masonic viewpoint, the Anti-Masonic party is a
subject that cannot be lightly dismissed for it developed into the most highly
organized and powerful foe that Masonry has ever had in the United states. Promoted
by unscrupulous opportunists seeking political power and even aiming at the
presidency of the United states, it almost succeeded in exterminating Freemasonry in
some of the states. In view, then, of its contributions to national political practices and
its baneful influence on the Masonic Institution, it should be of greatest interest to
trace the origin, development and decline of the Anti-Masonic party.

POLITICAL ORIGIN OF ANTI-MASONRY

In seeking an explanation of the origin of the Anti-Masonic party it is not enough, as
Charles McCarthy, the leading historian of the party, pointed out years ago, to say
that it was started by the Morgan affair. Had not the political, social and religious
conditions at the time been favorable for the formation of a new party it is highly
improbable that any political developments would have followed the mysterious
disappearance of William Morgan. That incident was merely the match which served
to ignite the combustibles already prepared.

Assuredly, the political situation, both in the country as a whole, and in New York,
was ripe for the appearance of a new party. In 1816, the decadent Federalist party had
for the last time participated in a presidential election, and thereafter the old
Republican party was without a rival. The Federalist disintegration proceeded rapidly,
so that when the Republican President, James Monroe, shortly after his inauguration,
made a tour of the old Federalist stronghold of New England, he was received with
such cordiality that the expression "Era of Good Feelings" was applied to his
administration.

But, while the surface of the political water appeared to be calm, underneath there
was a great and increasing turmoil. After Monroe's second election, various
individuals openly exhibited themselves as candidates for the presidential succession.
The number of aspirants, at first about a score, dwindled until the election of 1 824
saw four rivals in the field, John Quincy is Adams of Massachusetts, Henry Clay of
Kentucky, William H. Crawford of Georgia and Andrew Jackson of Tennessee. The
regular election proved indecisive, though Jackson received a plurality of the electoral
votes. In accordance with Constitutional provision, the election was then settled in the
House of Representatives in favor of Adams.

Clay, who had run fourth in the race and was therefore eliminated from the House
election, used his influence for Adams, and after the latter assumed the presidency,
received the coveted office of Secretary of state. This led to the famous charge that a
"corrupt bargain" had been entered into by Adams and Clay. The charge, though
never satisfactorily substantiated, was believed by many, including Jackson, who was
changed from an indifferent contestant to an eager aspirant for the presidency. In the
fall of 1825 he was nominated for that office by the Tennessee legislature and began
an aggressive campaign to defeat Adams in 1828. The bitter rivalry thus engendered
between Adams and Jackson divided the Republican party into factions, which were
destined to develop into new political parties. Just what the emerging parties would
be called no one at that time could tell. The fact remains that both the Adams and
Jackson groups claimed the name "Republican" until after the election of 1828.

CLINTON AND VAN BUREN

The political situation in New York was even more favorable to the formation of new
parties. There had been a long struggle in the state over the building of the Erie Canal,
and the animosities developed by this struggle did not subside when the canal was
completed in 1825. De Witt Clinton had led the canal forces and Martin Van Buren,
the chief of the "Bucktails," had been the leader in opposition to the building of the
canal. After Adams and Jackson became avowed rival candidates for the presidency
in the election of 1828, it was necessary for Clinton and Van Buren, just as it was for
other politicians throughout the country, to choose between them. Van Buren,
previously a Crawford supporter, early took a stand in favor of Jackson. After
considerable deliberation, Clinton also announced himself as a Jackson supporter.

This produced consternation among his followers, many of whom preferred Adams to
Jackson.

Not least among those who were followers and admirers of Clinton was Thurlow
Weed, then an aspiring newspaper editor in Rochester. He, and many other Clinton
adherents, had supported Adams for the presidency in 1 824 and wished to do so
again. To Weed and the other Adams men who were seeking to counteract the
influence of Clinton's action, the Morgan affair must have appeared as a rainbow of
hope.

To one familiar with Weed's long subsequent career as a shrewd political manipulator
there is danger of giving him credit for more foresight than he actually possessed.
Nevertheless, retracing the development of the Anti-Masonic party from a local party
in Western New York to a national party contending for the presidency of the United
states, the guiding hand of Weed is clearly discernible at all stages.

WEED AND THE MORGAN COMMITTEES

Through the activities of the "Morgan committees," including that of Monroe County
of which Weed was a leading member, and inspired by Weed's newly established
"Anti-Masonic Enquirer" and similar newspapers which soon cropped out, there was
developed in Western New York, within a short period after Morgan's disappearance,
a frenzied outburst against Freemasonry. To bring about this result, charges that
Masons were interfering with and hindering the investigations were coupled with
appeals to the religious prejudices of the people.

The Anti-Masonic writers on the subject have been wont to say that the popular
indignation of the people led to a "spontaneous" resort to the ballot to bar Masons
from political offices. But viewing the evidence in hand it is apparent that the
"spontaneous" outburst was in reality the result of carefully conducted manuevers on
the part of Weed and his associates. Anti-Masonic tickets were placed in the field in
various town elections in Genesee and Monroe Counties in the spring of 1827 with a

result most encouraging to the Anti-Masons. It is significant that Weed, in his
Autobiography, begins his chapter on political Anti-Masonry by relating how he and
others at the time counselled against political action and then in the same paragraph
says:

Rochester had already become the centre of Anti-Masonry. From that point the
movements, whether of a judicial or legislative character, emanated.

As Weed was the chief of the Anti-Masons in Rochester, it is clear that he was
promoting political Anti-Masonry while professing to discourage it!

Animated by the success of. their first venture into politics, the Anti-Masonic leaders
threw their full energies into the work of perfecting a party organization, promoting
conventions and securing suitable candidates to run in the approaching elections.

They also continued their propaganda designed to win converts to their cause. The
influence of the alleged finding of Morgan's body on Oct. 7, 1827, must have been
great, for it supported the claims that Morgan had been drowned by the Masons. The
decision that the body was Monroe's and not Morgan's was not reached until Oct. 29.
As the election began on the following Monday, Nov. 5, it was too late, in view of the
poor communication facilities of the time, to re-act on the voters. Therefore, the body
was "a good enough Morgan until after the election", whether or not Weed actually
made the remark. In disseminating their propaganda, the Anti-Masons did not omit to
point out that Governor Clinton, a high Mason, had gone over to the political camp of
Jackson, also a prominent Mason. (1) They also spread false reports that Clinton had
approved of the Morgan abduction.

As a result, in the fall of 1827, Timothy Childs was elected to the state assembly from
Monroe county on an Anti-Masonic ticket, and fourteen others claimed as Anti-
Masons were also elected to the same body, much to the gratification of Weed and
company. The new party was gaining momentum and numerous conventions were got
up in 1828, for the purpose of further crystallizing sentiment. These included a
convention of seceding Masons at Le Roy, Feb. 19 and 20, 1828, followed by a
second convention of seceding Masons also at Le Roy, on July 4, 1828. This

convention drew up a "Declaration of Independence" from the Masonic Institution, in
imitation of the national Declaration, and the document was signed by one hundred
and three seceding Masons, varying from an Entered Apprentice to the possessor of
twenty-one degrees. Conspicuously heading the list is the name of Solomon
Southwick. The only other persons in the list who attained any prominence as Anti-
Masons were David Bernard, author of Light On Masonry, John G. steams, Edward
Giddins, Samuel D. Greene, and David C. Miller.

THE ANTI-MASONIC TICKET

Meanwhile an open Anti-Masonic convention had been held at Le Roy, March 6 and
7, with twelve counties represented. A set of twenty Anti-Masonic resolutions was
drawn up and an address to the people was issued. On Aug. 4, 5 and 6, 1828, the
Anti-Masons held a convention at Utica for the purpose of nominating a state ticket
for the fall election. Francis Granger was nominated for governorship, but after
several weeks declined the nomination, as he preferred to mn for the office of
Lieutenant Governor on the ticket of the Adams Republicans. Temporarily, Thurlow
Weed lost control, for the radical Anti-Masons met at Le Roy, on Sept. 7, and
nominated Southwick for the office of Governor. In the ensuing election, which
resulted in the selection of the Jacksonian candidate, Martin Van Buren, Southwick
ran a poor third. However, the Anti-Masons succeeded in electing seventeen
assemblymen and four state senators, including William H. Maynard. In this election
the Anti-Masons cast their votes for Adams for President since his statement had been
spread abroad that he was not, never was, and never should be a Mason.

"The election of 1828," said Weed, "imparted increased confidence, vigor and
strength to the Anti-Masonic party." Southwick, who had for a short time occupied a
place of leadership, was pushed aside and thenceforth Thurlow Weed, aided by such
lieutenants as William E. Seward, Millard Fillmore, Francis Granger, John C.
Spencer, Myron Holley, Henry Dana Ward, Frederick Whittlesey, Albert H. Tracy,
William H. Maynard, and others, guided the destinies of the Anti-Masonic party in
New York. A state convention was convened at Albany on Feb. 19, 1829, with
delegates present from forty counties. This convention, says McCarthy:

Marks a new starting point in the history of the party in New York. . . It was all the
more effective because the political nature of it was concealed by an outward show of
Anti-masonry with all its verbiage and proscriptive declarations.

Though Southwick was allowed to open the convention with a long address, there
was no question as to the Weed faction controlling the meeting. Weed, from the state
Anti-Masonic Central Committee, presented a long report on the development and
progress of AntiMasonry. The most significant action taken by the convention was in
regard to a national convention. A report on the subject was submitted by a
committee, headed by Granger and including Seward in its membership. After
hearing the report and supporting speeches, the convention resolved to call a national
convention to meet at Philadelphia on Sept. 11, 1830, (2) to be composed of delegates
from each state equal in number to the electoral vote of the state. It was further stated:

The objects of which Convention, when assembled, shall be to adopt such measures
as to them, in their deliberate wisdom, shall appear to be the most effectual to
annihilate the Masonic Institution, and all other secret societies which claim to be
paramount to our Laws, and are hostile to the genius and spirit of the Constitution.

In evaluating the significance of this resolution it must be remembered that the
national parties styled the Democratic party and the National Republican party had
not yet adopted those designations. There was an Adams party and a Jackson party
but definite names were not adopted until after Jackson's inauguration as President,
March 4, 1829. (3) In view of this, it is quite evident that Weed and his associates
were seeking to make their party a chief national party in opposition to the
Jacksonians. From 1829 until its demise in 1833, the Anti-Masonic party in New
York was primarily an anti- Jackson party, and its continued attacks on Masonry were
but "camouflage" for the real political motives of the opportunistic leaders.

Before adjourning, the Albany Convention memorialized the state legislature for
legislation against "extrajudicial oaths." It also decided that, while Morgan deserved
a monument, the time was not ripe for its erection because of the doubtful
"probability of its remaining undisturbed." It took action to raise a fund by

subscription, to be held in trust, the income from which was to be used "for the future
support of Mrs. Morgan, and the support and education of her two children." (4)

PROCEEDINGS AGAINST MASONS

After the convention, the Anti-Masons continued to use all the devices at their
command to keep up an excitement against the Masons. They made liberal use of
newspapers, pamphlets and "lectures." The "Morgan trials" were continued with
renewed vigor and desperate attempts were made to secure convictions of accused
Masons. Meanwhile, by declaring in favor of further canal building and other internal
improvements, they attracted to their standard many of the old Clintonians and
Adams men.

THE "TOLERATION MOVEMENT

In some of the towns of Western New York an attempt was made to stem the tide of
Anti-Masonry by organizing a "Toleration and Equal Rights Party." In the local
spring elections of 1829, "toleration" tickets were successful in a few towns. "The
Craftsman" of April 14, 1829, which had previously exhorted the voters "to unite
under the banner of Toleration and Equal Rights, and with becoming regard to their
privileges, as freemen, uphold their institutions," claimed victories in seven of the
sixteen towns of Monroe County, six of seven in Genesee County, four in Livingston
County, and in all the towns of Cayuga and Seneca Counties. It is surprising that
nothing more was heard of this "party" after these elections.

In the fall elections of 1 829, the Anti-Masons showed increased strength though the
Jacksonians easily controlled the state as a whole. (1830 was the year the Anti-
Masons exhibited their greatest strength in New York.) On Feb. 25, 1830, a
convention was held at Albany and thirty-six delegates were chosen to attend the
national convention. On Aug. 11, 1830, another state Anti-Masonic convention was
held at Utica with forty- five counties represented. Francis Granger was nominated for
Governor and a bid for the workingmen's support was made by nominating Samuel

Stevens of New York city for Lieutenant Governor. Fourteen resolutions were
adopted and an address to the people was issued. In the fall election, Granger was
defeated but he carried eighteen counties and received 120,361 votes as compared
with 128,892 votes for Enos Throop, who was elected. It is significant that ten
counties which had been Anti-Masonic in 1828 were carried by Throop, the
Democrat-Republican candidate, in 1830. The Anti-Masons were admitted to have
elected thirty three members of the Assembly, and they elected state senators in three
districts, including Seward in the Eighth District.

In spite of the great show of strength in 1830, Weed was disappointed. In 1831 the
party lost ground and in 1832 again went down to defeat, not only in New York but
nationally as well. After an even more disastrous defeat in the fall elections of 1833,
Weed and his colleagues were ready to give up. As Weed said in his Autobiography:

The election of 1833 demonstrated unmistakably not only that opposition to Masonry
as a party in a political aspect had lost its hold upon the public mind, but that its
leading object [?], namely, to awaken and perpetuate a public sentiment against secret
societies, had signally failed.

A meeting of leaders of the party was held late in 1833 which "resulted in a virtual
dissolution of the Anti-Masonic party" in New York.

Meanwhile, Anti-Masonry had been making headway in other states. In Pennsylvania
conditions were also favorable for the introduction of Anti-Masonry. Long before the
Morgan affair, as early as 1821, there had been manifested hostility on the part of
some Presbyterians towards Masonry, and in 1823 the Methodists, of the state had
shown an unfriendly attitude towards the Fraternity. Other religious sects in the state
were also fertile ground for the seeds of Anti-Masonry brought in from New York as
early as 1827. Furthermore, as in New York, there was a quarrel of long standing over
internal improvements which favored the organization of a new party.

Political Anti-Masonry made its first appearance in the fall of 1828, but did not make
much headway until the following year. On June 25, 1829, a convention of Anti-
Masons from eleven counties met at Harrisburg and nominated Joseph Ritner for
Governor. In the fall election the Anti-Masons polled a considerable vote and, while
Ritner was defeated, elected fifteen members of the House and one member of the
Senate of the state legislature. On Feb. 26, 1830, practically all the counties of
Pennsylvania were represented in an Anti-Masonic convention at Harrisburg, called
to choose delegates to the national convention. In this convention, Thaddeus Stevens
began his career as the leading Anti-Mason of Pennsylvania.

In the fall elections, 1830, the Anti-Masons succeeded in electing six Congressmen,
four members of the state Senate and twenty-seven members of the state House of
Representatives. In May, 1831, another state convention was held to choose delegates
to the Baltimore national convention, but was poorly attended. That fall the Anti-
Masons elected six state senators and twenty members of the House. On Feb. 22,
1832, a fourth state convention met at Harrisburg and for a second time nominated
Ritner for Governor. That fall he ran a very close second to George Wolf, the
Democratic candidate. For a time thereafter Anti-Masonry declined in Pennsylvania,
but was kept alive through the activity of Stevens and his chief lieutenant, Ritner.
Finally, in 1835, by a coalition of Anti-Masons and Whigs, Ritner was elected
Governor. During his three year regime every possible effort was made to legislate
Masonry out of existence, but without success. With Ritner's defeat in 1838, political
Anti-Masonry practically disappeared in Pennsylvania, though Stevens attempted to
revive it as late as 1843.

THE RESULTS IN VERMONT

In no state were the Anti-Masons so completely successful as in Vermont. Political
Anti-Masonry really began there in 1829, when on Aug. 5 a state convention was held
at Montpelier. That fall the Anti-Masons elected thirty-three out of the two hundred
and fourteen members of the state legislature. In 1830, the Anti-Masons showed
increased strength. By 1831 they were strong enough to secure a plurality in the
popular election for their gubernatorial candidate, William A. Palmer, and then secure
his election at the hands of the legislature. They also elected one hundred and
fourteen members of the state legislature. In 1832, they again elected Palmer as

Governor and also elected three members of Congress. In 1833 and 1834, Palmer was
re-elected but thereafter lost his popularity, and as a result of a deadlock in the
legislature in 1835, Silas H. Jennison, elected by the Anti-Masons as Lieutenant
Governor, became the Governor. In 1836, the Anti-Masons joined with the Whigs
and disappeared as a distinct party in Vermont.

THE RESULT IN MASSACHUSETTS

The Anti-Masons made a determined but futile effort to control the political situation
in Massachusetts. Political Anti-Masonry began in the state in 1828, but it was not
until the notorious "Suffolk Committee" was organized at a meeting of Anti-Masons
at Boston, Aug. 27, 1 829, that headway was made. The first state Anti-Masonic
convention met in Faneuil Hall, at Boston, on Dec. 30 and 31, 1829, and Jan. 1, 1830.
Resolutions were adopted and a long address to the people of the state, drawn up by a
committee headed by Moses Thacher, was issued. This convention also elected
delegates to the Philadelphia national convention. The members of the "Suffolk
Committee" were designated to serve as a state Anti-Masonic committee. In 1830, the
Anti-Masons elected three state senators and between twenty and twenty-five
members of the lower house of the legislature.

On May 19 and 20, 1831, a second state Anti-Masonic convention was held in
Boston. Various reports were made and Anti-Masonic resolutions were adopted. Later
in the year, the Anti-Masons nominated Samuel Lathrop for Governor but he was
defeated in the election. In 1832, the Anti-Masons put an electoral as well as a state
ticket in the field, the latter again headed by Lathrop, but the National Republicans
won the election. The convention of that year adopted a reply to the "Declaration" of
the Masons of Boston, this reply having been drawn up by the state Anti-Masonic
committee and including thirty-eight "Allegations Against Freemasonry." Letters
were then addressed to the Grand Lodge and Grand Chapter of the state challenging
them to sue the Anti-Masonic committee for libel, so that a trial could be held to
determine whether the Anti-Masons were justified in their charges against Masonry,
or the Masons were right in declaring the charges false. Nothing came of these
challenges.

In 1833, against his wishes, John Quincy Adams was nominated by the Anti-Masonic
convention for the governorship, but failed of election. In 1834 the Anti-Masons
succeeded in getting the legislature to investigate Masonry but nothing came of the
investigation. That year the state convention nominated John Bailey for Governor but
he ran a poor third in the election. In 1835, most of the Anti-Masons of Massachusetts
joined the Whigs, and the merger was completed in 1836.

RHODE ISLAND AND CONNECTICUT

Rhode Island was another of the New England states where political Anti-Masonry
exhibited considerable strength. Anti-Masonry appeared in the state in 1 829, and was
given form by a convention held the next year. In 1831, the Anti-Masons
memorialized the state legislature to investigate Freemasonry, which was done,
though the investigation was "fruitless." In 1832, the legislature passed an act
forbidding extra judicial oaths. A very unusual situation occurred in Rhode Island in
1832 when a coalition was formed between the Anti-Masons and the Democrats. As a
result, William Sprague, an Anti-Mason, was elected Speaker of the lower house of
the state legislature. Beginning with 1833, the Anti-Masons, for five successive years,
elected their candidate, John Brown Francis, to the governorship. It was not until
1838 that political Anti-Masonry in Rhode Island disappeared.

In Connecticut political Anti-Masonry began late in 1828. On Feb. 11, 1829, a state
convention was held at Hartford. In 1832, the Anti-Masons showed their greatest
strength in Connecticut when, by a coalition with the National Republicans, they
elected eight state senators, sixty-seven members of the state House of
Representatives, and one United States Senator. The strength of the party soon
dwindled, and in 1835 the Anti-Masons were practically absorbed by the Whigs.

Political Anti-Masonry made little headway in states other than those already
mentioned. In Maine, a state convention was held at Augusta, July 4, 1832. The party
had a candidate for the Governor, Thomas A. Hill, in the elections of 1832, 1833 and
1834, but his strength was negligible. At least two conventions were held in New

Hampshire, one on June 1, 1831, and another on Feb. 6, 1833, but no political
successes were achieved by the Anti-Masons.

THE RESULTS ELSEWHERE

In other states political Anti-Masonry was nothing more than a "local infection." It
made some headway in New Jersey where at least one convention was held -that at
New Brunswick on Aug. 24, 1830. In Ohio, Anti-Masonry exhibited its chief strength
in the northeastern part. At least three conventions were held in this state, the first
convening at Canton on July 21, 1830, with twelve counties represented, the second
at Columbus on Jan. 11, 1831, and the third also at Columbus, on June 12, 1832.
Anti-Masons in Indiana were a factor in only a few local elections. There is record of
a convention held in the state in March, 1830. At least one Anti-Masonic convention
was held in Kentucky, at Carthage, on Jan. 22, 1829. In Michigan Territory the Anti-
Masons held a convention in June, 1 829, and that year were strong enough to elect
John Biddle as Territorial Delegate to Congress. Local outbreaks of political Anti-
Masonry occurred in Marengo and Tuscaloosa Counties in Alabama, in Mecklenburg
County, North Carolina, and in Boonsboro district, Maryland. There is no other
evidence available to show that political Anti-Masonry made any headway in the
South. The fact that Delaware had one delegate present at each of the Anti-Masonic
national conventions is evidence that that state was also slightly tainted with political
Anti-Masonry.

THE COLLAPSE OF THE MOVEMENT

An account of political Anti-Masonry would not be complete without a consideration
of the ephemeral career of the national Anti-Masonic party. As has been suggested,
Weed and others early conceived the project of making the Anti-Masonic party a
leading national party in opposition to the Jacksonians, and with this in view secured
the calling of a national convention to meet at Philadelphia. At the time of the calling
of the convention little was definitely known as to the actual strength of the Anti-
Masons outside of New York. It must have been disappointing to the leaders when
there appeared at Philadelphia, on Sept. 11, 1830, delegates from only ten of the

twenty-four states and from one territory. While a total of one hundred and eleven
delegates attended, it should be noted that thirty-three were from New York, twenty
eight from Pennsylvania and seventeen from Massachusetts. Connecticut sent eight
delegates, New Jersey seven, Ohio seven, Vermont six and Rhode Island two, while
Delaware, Maryland and the Territory of Michigan each sent one delegate.

The convention organized with Francis Granger of New York as President. During
the five days the convention was in session the time was spent mainly in formulating
and listening to reports. On the first day fourteen different committees were
appointed, to report on such matters as "the pretensions of freemasonry," "the true
nature of Masonic oaths and obligations," "the truth of the disclosures" of Masonry,
"the abduction and murder of William Morgan," "the effects of Freemasonry on the
Christian religion," "the nature and spirit of anti-masonry," and "measures ... to
effectuate the extinction of Freemasonry." The various reports were the subject of
extended debate which on occasion grew heated. It is apparent that some of the
delegates were anxious to air their views and took full advantage of their opportunity
to do so.

Among the matters of interest which came before the convention was the proposal of
a New York delegate that a committee be appointed "to inquire into the pecuniary
circumstances and situation of the family of Capt. William Morgan, and to report
what measures, if any, should be adopted for their support." After some discussion the
proposal was rejected. Thaddeus Stevens was most active in opposing the resolution,
and, as his expressions show how little some of the leaders connected the Morgan
affair with the AntiMasonic party, the record of the debates containing his objections
may be quoted, as follows:

Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, thought that this convention, as such, had nothing to do
with the family of Capt. Morgan. The abduction and murder of that individual, did
not constitute the basis of anti-masonry. That was perhaps a providential
circumstance in its favour. The investigation and proceedings of the convention in
regard to free-masonry should be coolly and dispassionately conducted. The
resolution would be looked upon as intended to inflame the feelings and passions,
rather than to appeal to the judgment; to excite the sympathies, rather than open the
eyes, of the people, on the subject of masonry.

It was apparent that the time was not ripe for putting a presidential candidate in the
field, but the matter was referred to a committee. After the committee's report had
been debated with considerable heat, it was

Resolved, That it is recommended to the people of the United states, opposed to
secret societies, to meet in convention, on Monday, the twenty-sixth day of
September, 1831, at the city of Baltimore, by delegates equal in number to their
representatives in both houses of congress, to make nominations of suitable
candidates for the offices of President and Vice-President, to be supported at the next
election; and for the transaction of such other business as the cause of Anti-Masonry
may require.

A long address to the people, prepared by Myron Holley, was adopted and signed by
all the delegates in attendance. It was chiefly a denunciation of Masonry and an
appeal to the people to use the ballot against the Institution. This address is important
since, if it was not the first national party platform, it was at least the "germ" of such a
platform. If a platform is a declaration of a party's principles and policies, this address
fulfilled the requirements of a platform.

SECOND NATIONAL CONVENTION

The party leaders hoped, by holding a second national convention in 1 83 1 , to have a
more representative gathering, but in this they were to be disappointed. There
assembled at Baltimore, on the appointed date, only one hundred and fourteen
delegates from twelve states, including thirty-seven from New York, twenty eight
from Pennsylvania, fourteen from Massachusetts, nine from Ohio, six from New
Jersey, five from Vermont, six from Connecticut, four from Rhode Island, two from
Maine, and one each from New Hampshire, Delaware and Maryland.

After the convention had been organized with John C. Spencer of New York as
President, the rules and orders of the Philadelphia convention were adopted, various
committees were appointed, and the work of the convention was got under way.
Special reports by Henry Dana Ward for the "National Committee of
Correspondence," Benjamin F. Hallett of Rhode Island "On the Construction of
Masonic Penalties," and John C. Spencer "On History of Judicial Proceedings" in the
"Morgan cases" regaled the convention while the matter of candidates was being
considered.

Before the convention various individuals had been mentioned as possible Anti-
Masonic presidential candidates. John C. Calhoun would have received favorable
attention had it not been for his known connection with the movement in South
Carolina to nullify the Federal tariff laws. Richard Rush of Pennsylvania had been
mentioned and may have entertained hope of receiving the nomination. John Quincy
Adams of Massachusetts was supported by New Englanders but had expressed
himself as not wishing to be nominated. Then, too, there were many who felt that his
name would not attract voters to the party. Henry Clay might easily have received the
nomination, but he was a Mason and refused to renounce the Fraternity. (5) He had
come dangerously close to it when he wrote, Jan. 23, 1831:

I have been urged, entreated, importuned, to make some declaration short of
renunciation of Masonry, which would satisfy the Antis. But I have hitherto declined
all interference on that subject. While I do not, and never did care about Masonry [?],
I shall abstain from making myself any party to that strife. I tell them that Masonry
and Anti-masonry has legitimately in my opinion nothing to do with politics; that I
never acted, in public or private life, under any Masonic influence; that I have long
since ceased to be a member of any lodge; that I voted for Mr. Adams, no Mason,
against General Jackson, a Mason.

Thaddeus Stevens and perhaps other Anti-Masonic leaders went to the Baltimore
convention with the intention of securing the nomination of John McLean of Ohio, a
Justice of the United States Supreme Court and ex-Postmaster General of the United
states. He had privately expressed a willingness to accept the nomination if it were
assured that he would be the sole candidate in opposition to Jackson. But by the
summer of 1 83 1 it was very evident that the National Republicans would name a

candidate of their own, and the indications were that Clay would be the candidate. In
fact he had already been put forward as a candidate by various National Republican
gatherings throughout the country. Therefore McLean wrote, under date of Nashville,
Sept. 7, 1831, declining "to distract still more the public mind," by allowing himself
to be named as an additional candidate.

WIRT AS ANTI-MASONIC CANDIDATE

Distracted by this frustration of their hopes, a delegation of Anti-Masons called on
William Wirt, an ex-Attorney General of the United States, then residing in
Baltimore, and persuaded him to accept the party's nomination for the presidency.
Wirt, who early in life had taken the Entered Apprentice Degree, and whose
conversion to Anti-Masonry coincided with the assembling of the convention,
reluctantly agreed to accept the nomination. He, and probably some of the real Anti-
Masonic leaders, hoped that the National Republicans would concur in the
nomination when their national convention should assemble in December, 1831.
Having secured at least a nominal candidate for the presidency, the Anti-Masons
named Amos Ellmaker of Pennsylvania for the vice-presidency, drew up Anti-
Masonic resolutions, adopted a platform in the form of an address to the people and
adjourned to await the developments of the campaign.

Were it not for the fact that the address contained the usual denunciations of
Masonry, it might have been a platform drawn up by a convention of National
Republicans— in fact it was clearly designed to attract voters of that party. There could
no longer be any doubt that the Anti-Masonic party, in spite of its pretensions, had
become essentially an anti-Jackson party. The events of the campaign were ample
justification for such a conclusion.

After the National Republicans, in their national convention at Baltimore, in
December, 1831, formally nominated Clay, Wirt, aged and sickly, became thoroughly
disheartened and, after the party leaders refused to allow him to withdraw, refused to
lift a finger to promote his own election. In private correspondence he expressed the
hope that Clay would win.

THE INSINCERITY OF THE LEADERS

The active Anti-Masonic leaders showed how insincere all their pratings against
Masonry since 1826 had been, when they entered into coalitions with the National
Republicans in various states. The Jackson official organ, the Washington "Globe,"
frequently called attention to these coalitions and denounced them in that vehement
language which made its editor, Francis Preston Blair, the outstanding political editor
of the period. It was the intention of the National Republican and Anti-Masonic
leaders, especially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, to manipulate the electoral
vote so as to give it to either Clay or Wirt, whichever appeared to have the best
prospect of being elected. Clay entered into the arrangement wholeheartedly, as a
letter written to Weed, dated Washington, April 14, 1832, plainly indicates. He said,
in part:

I received your favor of the 9th inst., as I did the previous ones, communicating the
progress of measures to produce cooperation between the Anti-Masons and the
National Republicans in the state of New York. I most earnestly hope that such
cooperation may be cordially produced, to the satisfaction of both parties.

The cooperation referred to was brought about, for the two parties united on the same
state and electoral ticket. This gave the Democrats an opportunity to ridicule their
opponents as the "Siamese Twin Party."

Every possible means was employed by the coalition to defeat Jackson. The one
hundred and sixty Anti-Masonic newspapers, headed by Weed's "Albany Evening
Journal," were aided by numerous almanacs and tracts of various kinds in spreading
the party propaganda. Jackson's staunch adherence to the Masonic Fraternity was not
overlooked, nor did the Anti-Masons neglect to point out that four members of his
cabinet, Edward Livingston, the Secretary of state, Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War,
Levi Woodbury, the Secretary of the Navy, and William T. Barry, the Postmaster
General, were prominent Masons. But all the efforts were without avail, for after the
smoke of the battle had cleared away in the fall of 1832 it was found that Jackson had

been easily re-elected, receiving two hundred and nineteen electoral votes. Clay
received fortynine electoral votes, while the Anti-Masonic candidate, Wirt, received
only the seven electoral votes of Vermont. The Anti-Masons had hoped to poll at
least a half million votes but Clay and Wirt together received only 530,189 votes
while Jackson received 687,502.

The overwhelming defeat of the Anti-Masons in the election of 1832 was a blow from
which they never recovered. The New York leaders, who had been primarily
responsible for the origin and development of the party, were convinced that they
could not ride to power under the aegis of an Anti-Masonic party. After they
dissolved the party in New York it was only a matter of time until the whole political
Anti-Masonic movement collapsed. Though it showed strength in some states, as has
been pointed out, until 1838, and even held a national convention at Philadelphia,
Nov. 13, 1838-with only four states, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio and
Pennsylvania represented— its doom was inevitable. The American people could not
be fooled forever and when they saw that the issue of Anti-Masonry was being kept
up chiefly to supply aspiring political opportunists with a vehicle in which to attempt
to ride to power, they refused to lend enough support to keep the party alive. Thus
there passed off the stage the first of a large number of minor parties which have
afforded variety to American political campaigns.

NOTES

(1) Throughout the period the Anti-Masons sought to create the impression that
Masons were bound to work for each other's political advancement, but the history of
the period is full of refutations of the absurd charge. It is true that Clinton became a
Jackson man, but there were dozens of Masons who bitterly opposed Jackson
politically. For example, Henry Clay, P. G. M. of Kentucky, and John Marshall,
P.G.M. of Virginia, were most bitter opponents of Jackson. Hezekiah Niles of
Baltimore, P.G.H.P. of Maryland, was editor of Niles' Register, one of the most
powerful anti- Jackson newspapers in the country. William Winston Seaton of
Washington, one of the editors of the National Intelligencer, the chief organ of the
National Republicans and later of the Whigs, did not let his Masonry diminish the
intensity of his attacks on Jackson.

(2) This date was the anniversary of the day on which Morgan had been taken from
Batavia in 1826. For a time the AntiMasons sought to have the day set aside for
special observance.

(3) In 1829 the Adams party began calling themselves "National Republicans" while
the Jacksonians still called themselves "Republicans" or "Democratic Republicans." It
was not until January, 1832, that they officially used the term "Democratic" Party—
the term then being used in their call for a national convention. In applying the temlls
to parties before 1829, Weed and others writing years afterwards, were in error. (See
Bibliographical Notes)

(4) It is doubtful if Mrs. Morgan received much, if any benefit from this action as she
married, late in 1830, a seceded Mason named George W. Harris, and evidently
removed westward. Rob Morris cites evidence to show that Harris divorced her at
Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 1856.

(5) Clay had demitted in 1824 from Lexington Lodge, No. 1, of Kentucky, but he did
not renounce Masonry. He had previously served as Grand Master of Kentucky and
had been chiefly instrumental in promoting, in 1822, the project for a General
Supreme Grand Lodge of the United States.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The most complete and authoritative though not exhaustive work on the subject of
political Anti-Masonry, the use of which is indispensable in any study of the subject,
is Charles McCarthy's "The Antimasonic Party: A Study of Political Antimasonry in
the United States, 1827-1840 " in the American Historical Association Annual Report
for 1902, Vol. I, pp. 365-574. Though written by a Catholic it exhibits a
commendable spirit of fairness.

Brief accounts of political Anti-Masonry are [Erik McKinley Eriksson's] "The Anti-
Masonic Party," in Masonic Service Association Bulletin No. 10, Erik McKinley
Eriksson's "The AntiMasonic Party," in THE BUILDER, Vol. 7 (March, 1921), pp.
71-77; Emery B. Gibbs' "The Anti-Masonic Movement," in THE BUILDER, Vol. 4
(December, 1918), pp. 341-348; and J. Hugo Tatsch's "An American Masonic Crisis,"
in Transactions of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, Vol. XXXIV (1921), pp. 196-209.

A brief general treatment of Anti-Masonry in national politics is contained in the first
volume of Edward Stanwood's History of the Presidency From 1788-1916' (Boston,
1916), 2v. New York politics are vividly dealt with in De Alva Stanwood Alexander's
Political History of the State of New York (New York, 1906-1923), 4v., and in Jabez
D. Hammond's The History of Political Parties in the State of New York . . . (Albany,
1 842), 2v. It should be noted that the account of Anti-Masonry in the second volume
was written by Frederick Whittlesey, an Anti-Mason.

Of great importance for the accounts of prominent AntiMasonic leaders are Thurlow
Weed's Autobiography and Memoirs and William H. Seward's Autobiography.
Biographies, memoirs and other works relating to such leaders as Thaddeus Stevens,
John Quincy Adams, William Wirt and Millard Fillmore, not to mention a whole host
of lesser leaders, have also been consulted. William L. Stone's Letters on Masonry
and Anti-Masonry . . . (New York, 1832), gives much interesting material. The
"Introductory Remarks" in [Henry Gassett' s] Catalogue of Books on the Masonic
Institution . . . (Boston, 1852) supply the dates for some Anti-Masonic conventions
not mentioned by McCarthy.

In addition to newspapers hitherto cited, the following Washington newspapers were
carefully studied: the Washington "Globe," the Jackson official organ, 1830-1837; the
"National Intelligencer," the chief organ of the National Republicans and the "United
States Telegraph," the ex-official organ of Jackson's administration.

The present writer has prepared a study of these journals, a small part of which has
been published under the title "Official Newspaper Organs and the Campaign of

1828," in The Tennessee Historical Magazine, Vol. VIII (January, 1925), pp. 231-
247. It was from this study that the information concerning party cognomens was
derived. "Niles' Register," published throughout the period at Baltimore, is a mine of
useful information. Its bias is decidedly anti-Jackson.

Typical of the Anti-Masonic almanacs examined were the following: Edward
Giddins' The Pennsylvania Anti-Masonic Almanac . . . 1830 (Lancaster, 1830);
Giddins' Anti-Masonic Almanac ... 1831 (Utica 1831); Giddins' Anti-Masonic
Almanac . . . 1832 (Utica, 1832), Avery Allyn's The Anti-Masonic Sun Almanac . . .
1832 . . . (Philadelphia, 1832); and the New England Anti-Masonic Almanac for the
years 1831, 1832, 1833 and 1834 (Boston). The almanacs are of interest chiefly
because of the free use they made of cartoons and caricatures, which were, generally
speaking, rarely employed at that period of history.

While it has been necessary to depend on works already cited for much of the
material on political Anti-Masonry, the following pamphlets containing convention
proceedings have been studied at first hand: Masonic Anti-Masonic Proceedings [Le
Roy, Feb. 19 and March 6, 1828], N.P., N.D., 16 pp.; Proceedings of the Anti-
Masonic Convention for the State of New York Held at Utica, Aug. 11, 1830 . . .
(Utica, 1830), 16 pp.; Proceedings of the Antimasonic State Convention of
Connecticut Held at Hartford Feb. 3 and 4, 1830 (Hartford, 1830), 32 pp.; Brief
Report of the Debates in the Anti-Masonic State Convention . . . Massachusetts . . .
1829 . . . (Boston, 1830), 48 pp.; Abstract of the Proceedings of the Anti-Masonic
State Convention of Massachusetts . . . 1829 . . . (Boston 1830), 32 pp., Abstract of
the Proceedings of the Antimasonic State Convention of Massachusetts ... 1 83 1
(Boston, 1831), 78 pp.; Anti-masonic Republican Convention of Massachusetts . . .

1832 . . . (Boston, 1832), 55 pp.; Anti-Masonic Convention of Massachusetts . . .

1833 . . . (Boston, 1833) 48 pp.; Antimasonic Republican Convention for
Massachusetts . . . 1834 . . . (Boston, 1834), 40 pp.; The Proceedings of the United
States Anti-Masonic Convention, Held at Philadelphia Sept. 11, 1830. Embracing the
Journal of Proceedings, the Reports, the Debates and the Address to the People
(Philadelphia 1830), 164 pp.; and The Proceedings of the Second United States Anti-
Masonic Convention, Held at Baltimore, September, 1831; Journal and Reports . . .
Resolutions, and the Address to the People (Boston, 1832), 88 pp.

The following pamphlets are useful in giving an insight to various political activities
of the Anti-Masons: A Legislative Investigation Into Masonry [Rhode Island] . . .
(Boston, 1832), 85 pp.; Report of the Committee Appointed by the General Assembly
of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, to Investigate the Charges in
Circulation Against Freemasonry and Masons in Said State . . . (Providence 1832),

149 pp.; An Investigation Into Free Masonry by a Joint Committee of the Legislature
of Massachusetts . . . 1834 (Boston, 1834), 76 pp.; The Petition to the Legislature of
the State of Connecticut, Against Extra-Judicial Oaths [1833] . . . (Hartford, 1834), 8
pp.; Address of the Anti-Masonic State Convention Held at Augusta, July 4, 1832 . . .
N. P., N. D., 8 pp., John Clarke's Address to the People of Pennsylvania Read to the
Anti-Masonic Convention Held at Harrisburg, Feb. 25, 1830 . . . (Lancaster, 1830),

34 pp.; Report of a Committee to the New York Senate, Together With Extracts From
Other Authentic Documents. Illustrating the Character and Principles of Free
Masonry . . . (New Haven, 1829), 24 pp.; Report of the Select Committee on That
Part of the Governor's Message Relating to the Abduction of William Morgan. Made
to the [New York] Assembly, Feb. 16, 1829 (Albany, 1829), 68 pp.; Report of the
Committee on the Abduction of William. Morgan Made to the [New York] Senate,
Feb. 14, 1829 (Albany, 1829), 27 pp.; Report of the Special Counsel on the Subject of
the Abduction of William Morgan to the [New York] Senate (Albany, 1830), 35 pp.,
Appeal to the "Original Antimasons" of New York by the Editor of the Boston Daily
Advocate [Benjamin F. Hallett] (Published as "Extra" "Boston Daily Advocate," July,
1834), 32 pp., Report on Secret Societies and Monopolies by a Joint Committee of
the Legislature of Massachusetts, 1836 (Boston, 1836), 48 pp.; and Resolutions
Adopted by the Antimasonic Members of the Legislature of Massachusetts and Other
citizens . . . Opposed to the Nomination of Martin Van Buren . . . (Boston, 1836), 24

pp.

— o

Old Convivial Craft Customs By BRO. WILLIAM L. BOYDEN, Washington, D. C.

A PEEP into the past, disclosing from actual records many quaint and curious
customs of the Fraternity in regard to refreshment. In an age when a strong head,
ability to drink and not be drunken, was considered an admirable quality in a man,

temperance still had its original meaning of reasonable use, without abuse of any of
the pleasures of life.

CRITICISMS have often been made in times gone by, charging that the Masonic
institution was responsible for a great deal of intemperance. In the olden days
refreshments, both solid and liquid, were items of legitimate expense, regularly
charged and regularly charged and regularly paid for at the old time inns. Although
this usage has been radically changed and the bibulous features of Masonic gatherings
have long since been discontinued, unwarranted conclusions are still drawn from the
curiosities of the old books of account and books of record. In this particular,

Masonic usages a hundred years ago cannot be fairly tested by current standards of
Masonic conduct. The denominational organizations and their membership could not
successfully meet a similar test. Neither the one nor the other should now be called to
book upon more exacting standards of conduct than were set up by the moral sense of
contemporaries. Liquors seem to have had, in former times, as respectable standing in
the bill of fare at public places of entertainment, in the homes, and in public
gatherings, as do coffee, tea and other beverages in the social arrangements of the
present day. From the church, the lodge room and from places of social assemblages,
it was viewed in the same light. The temperate use of it as a beverage was regarded as
no offense against religion, morals or good manners. Considering the habits of the
great mass of mankind at that period it is worthy of note and commendation that this
essential Masonic duty, the restraint of improper desires and passions, was so
faithfully observed by the Craft, not only in their seasons of social recreation and
refreshment, but in other circumstances and relations.

The following is taken from the History of Rising Sun Lodge, Royalton, Vt., printed
in 1907, which touches upon this old custom:

"Not to treat a caller or visitor, and especially the minister when he called at one's
house, was deemed inhospitable and rude. Illustrating this condition, a good old
Christian lady years ago related to me an experience of her own which occurred when
she was a little girl. The minister of the parish called at her home. The family supplies
happened to be 'shy' on rum, and her good mother, ashamed at the prospect of not
being able to entertain her guest aflter the usual manner, called the little girl into

another room, lifted her out of a back window and sent her post haste to a neighbor to
obtain a supply of the 'ardent' wherewith to regale the parson."

And the Rev. Bro. Joshua Young, in an address before Old Colony Lodge,
Massachusetts, some years agone said:

"The use of intoxicating liquors was discontinued, in more than one Masonic lodge,
long before they were banished from ministerial councils, ordinations and funerals."

WHAT THEY DRANK

In addition to the liquors generally known, the brethren seemed to favor several
concoctions popular at the time, such as Negus, so-called from its inventor, Colonel
Negus, in the time of Queen Anne, 1702-1714, a mild, warm punch or wine, usually
port or sherry, with a little lemon and not much sugar; rum punch was made from
wine, rum, oranges and lemons; another favorite drink alnong those of the Craft who
were seafaring men was Rumbo. Smollett, in 1751, in his "Peregrine Pickle," refers to
the use of Rumbo, sometimes called bumbo. It was a strong drink made up of rum,
sugar and nutmeg, a sort of sailor's grog.

Lyon, in his history of the Lodge of Edinburg, says:

As appears from occasional scraps of the treasurer's accounts, one shilling per bottle
was the price of the punch that was used in the lodge, and the quantity named was no
unusual allowance on festive occasions to each attending operative apprentice, to the
officer, to the stewards "when making punch in the meeting," and to each visiting
brother. "Cold toddy" seems at a much later period to have been the favorite lodge
drink, and one of the minutes of the year 1809 is made to record the surreptitious
removal of "forty-one bottles of this beverage, the property of the lodge."

That lemons formed an important part of the bibulous menu is evidenced from a
minute in a lodge in Durham, England, where it is recorded under date of Aug. 2 1 ,
1787:

On the same night, Br. Robt. Darnel, made a motion that there should be lemons
provided against the next and every succeeding lodge night, which was unanimously
agreed to,

Here is a sample of what was paid for liquid refreshments after punches and the like
passed out of fashion, taken from the records of Apollo Lodge, Troy, New York:

Apollo Lodge, to Jonth. Hatch, Dr.

to 21 lbs. cheese at 8d 0 14 0

1 gal. wine 0 10 0

1/2 lb. tobacco 0 10

6 pipes 0 0 0

50 segars 0 16

1 7 6

Troy, 2d April, 1799.

Here is a typical bill for refreshments in Rising Sun Lodge, No. 7, Royalton, Vt. Note
the spelling:

The Rison Son Lodge, bot of Moses Cutter-

1 qt. Gin $ .38

1 qt. W.I. Rum 38

1 qt Brandy 38

3 1/2 lbs. "Cheas" 35

4 doz. crackers 48

Royalton, April 19, 1826.

PURCHASED WHOLESALE

Frequently where lodges could afford it, they purchased their wine in large quantities,
it being much cheaper that way, and stored it in the cellar below the lodge. A "pipe"
was a wine measure containing about 126 wine gallons; a pipe of port contained
about 138 wine gallons, Sherry 130, Madeira 110, Lisbon 140. As early as 1738 we
find recorded in the Turk's Head Lodge, Wiltshire, England:

It was agreed that as fault was found with the wine, a pipe of good wine should be
fixed upon by some of the brethren, and that upon their approbation, the whole should
be bottled off, and the Mason's seal placed on each bottle and kept for the use of the
lodge only.

In the Canongate Kilwinning Lodge, Edinburgh, June 4, 1740, the Master informed
the lodge

That for the benefit and use of the lodge there wa.s commissioned from London, one
puncheon containing one hundred and eight English gallons of Rum, and one barrel
containing two hundred and fifty-five and one-half pounds of sugar, which being
arrived, Brother Thos. Trotter generously advanced the money for the same,
amounting conform to the Invoice and Bro. Allan's receipt yron, to the sum of Fifty-
four pounds, seventeen shillings and seven pence sterling.

In Master's Lodge, No. 2, Albany, N. Y., Nov. 21, 1786, it was resolved

That the Treasurer take order to procure for the use of the lodge, one quarter caske of
Lisbon, or sherry wine, five gallons spirits, two loaves sugar and two dozen glasses.

From a minute in the Old Dundee Lodge, London, Nov. 27, 1788, it would seem that
the purchase by brethren of the lodge, of the necessary "spirits," was

not at all satisfactory, for it was resolved on that date

That one of the Stewards order from some person not a member of this lodge a certain
Quantity of wine and Licquors as Necessary.

In the Shakespeare Lodge, London, Feb. 24, 1803, it was

Resolved That Messrs. Dunlop and Hughes be ordered to send a Pipe of Red Port,
similar to the sample now produced, for the use of the Lodge, sealed with the Seal of
the Lodge, and that Brother George Harvey be requested to draw up certain
regulations to be observed in future in the Cellar, respecting the same, to be submitted
at the next meeting of the Lodge for their consideration.

REGULATING THE COST

Only a few years after the establishment of lodges in this country, we find the
following among the regulations of St. John's Lodge, No. 1, Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, in 1739, relative to the use of liquors:

13. The Junior Warden is to keep an account of what liquor comes in for the use of
the Lodge, which is not to exceed 2 shillings 6 pence per head, in failure of which he
is to forfeit the surplusage (without a dispensation from the Master and members) the
said Warden to render an account to the Secretary, who is to settle the same with the
Master and Treasurer before the Lodge is closed.

Sept. 14, 1764, the Lodge of Emulation, London:

Moved and seconded, that no Liquor be made and mixed anywhere by any member of
this Lodge, but in the Lodge, under the penalty of every member being at the expence
of the Liquor he shall make contrary to this order, which is carried in the affirmative.

The Lodge of Unity, No. 183, London, had this among its by-laws in 1782:

Article 3rd. All liquor drank at the Lodge during Lodge hours and the beer drank at
supper by the brethren not exceeding a pint each to be charged in the bill of expenses
that night but no liquor called for before or after Lodge hours shall be allowed by the
Lodge.

Lodge No. 43, Lancaster, Pa., was evidently averse to keeping a charge account in the
matter of refreshments, for in 1785, its fourth by-law provided "That no brother come
to the lodge without money to pay the expenses of the night."

That some innkeepers encouraged the meetings of lodges at their places by giving the
rent free for the sake of the trade, is evident, as we find in the history of Solomon's
Lodge, Poughkeepsie, N. Y., in 1787, that the paying of rent at Bro. Poole's
apparently became irksome or not sufficiently "speculative," for Bro. Emott moved
that the lodge fall into our former mode of buying our liquors of Bro. Poole and pay
no rent."

St. John's Lodge, Leicester, England, March 5, 1794,

Resolved that every member pay on each Lodge evening, two shillings for his supper
and for ale during Lodge hours. Members chusing to take Wine or Liquors to pay for
them extra.

And Union Lodge, Norwich, England, passed a resolution May 25, 1810, that visiting
brethren should be charged the price of a bottle of wine.

Here is an extract from the minutes of Shakespeare Lodge, London, June 23, 1831,
which is very suggestive:

The Secretary stated to the Lodge that in order to prevent any errors relative to the
number of bottles of wine charged in the bill, which appeared to him to have on more
than one occasion exceeded the number drunk, he had with the appreciation of the W.
M. provided a quantity of wine tickets.

How some of the lodges refreshed themselves, and absent one hour, and being rather
intoxicated was order'd to where, is indicated in the ensuing extract from the sit as a
private memberrecords of the Mariners' Lodge, England:

The Lodge to find two shillingsworth of malt Liquor and one Pint of Gin, Rum and
Brandy for every Lodge night only —the Lodge not to be closed for refreshment, but
the refreshment to be brought into the Room and put on a Table, any one who
chooses may partake thereof, paying 6d for the same. To have no Spirits admitted into
the Room during the time the Lodge is open unless paid for by the person calling for
it.

TREATING

The custom of treating the brethren of the lodge was quite a prevalent one, being
sometimes required, but more often voluntary. One of the lodges in Norfolk, England,
exacted, in 1724, that:

Every Masber on his election shall treat ye brethren with two bottles of wine and ye
Wardens with one bottle each, and on their second election the Master one bottle and
ye Wardens a bottle between them.

When a member was blest with a lewis or lewisa (son or daughter) he usually
celebrated the event as is evidenced from the records of the Turk's Head Lodge,
Wiltshire, England:

August 16, 1739. Brother Mills having been lately blessed with a lewis, was pleased
to present this Lodge with a crown bowl of punch upon that happy occasion, and the
young lewis' health was drunk to in form.

September 20, 1739. Our Brother Delarant presented the Lodge with a bowl of punch
on his having a lewisa born, and her health was drunk in form.

The Lodge of Felicity, London, on June 21, 1748, records:

This being Election night Bro. Griffon was Elected Master and chose Bro. Harforth
and Bro. Morse Wardens and Bro. Gibbs Seer., the Master paid a bottle, the Wardens
and Secretary paid each one shilling for the Honour done them.

FINES AND FORFEITS

In the Turk's Head Lodge, Wiltshire, England, Dec. 21, 1738, Bro. Hetherington was
called upon by the Master for his lecture, but excused himself on account of business
preventing him, but promised it on the next lodge night, or the voluntary forfeiture of
a gallon of wine. Caledonian Lodge, London, in 1765, had as one of its regulations:

That if any member of this Lodge come disguised in liquor, he shall be admonished
by the presiding officer, for the first offense; For the second, of the same nature, he
shall be fined one shiiling; And for the third, or refusing to pay his fine, he shall be
excluded without any benefit from the lodge.

In Mount Vernon Lodge, Albany, N. Y., 1773, one of the articles of its regulations
provided that

On lodge evening no member under a fine of one shilling shall have more drink than
for six pence in the lodge room without the Master's consent.

In a lodge in wigan, England, under date of Feb. 25, 1801, "Bro. John Taylor being
disguis'd in liquor he was admonished by the Worshipful and ordered home." In the
early records of Jerusalem Lodge, London, the Secretary states that "Brother Perdue
having drank a public Toast without his Apron, paid one shilling as a forfeit for that
neglect."

The Worshipful Master himself was called to account in the Lodge of Antiquity,
Bolton, England, Oct. 11, 1799:

The Worshipful was fined 2 shillings six pence fro being absent one hour, and being
rather intoxicated was order'd to sit as a private member.

GETTING ECONOMICAL

Many lodges, not only as a matter of economy, but realizing that refreshments were
more often the means of the brethren becoming better acquainted with each other and
that expensive wines and liquors were not necessary for this purpose, began to
retrench and adopted such measures as a London lodge did in 1773 when it enacted a
by-law:

That on account of the great expense incurr'd by allowing wine at supper and in order
to prevent the bad consequences arising therefrom, no liquor shall be paid for out of
the Lodge funds, which is drunk out of the Lodge room, except beer or ale drank at
supper.

Temple Lodge, Albany, N. Y., April 1, 1801:

Resolved. That in future the Stewards substitute beer for brandy and spirits for the
refreshments in the Lodge.

And in the same month, on the other side of the Atlantic, Royal York Lodge, London,

Resolved that the usual glass of brandy after supper be discontinued.

Altamont Lodge, Peterborough, N. H., May 7, 1816:

Voted to exclude the use of Ardent Spirit in this Lodge, and substitute therefor
crackers and cheese and cider.

DECLINE OF TUE CUSTOM

The dawn of the nineteenth century saw the drinking custom on the wane, and we
begin to find the minutes of lodges recording its discontinuance. In 1816 the Grand
Lodge of New York enacted "That the use of distilled spirits in lodge rooms, or any
adjoining room, is expressly forbidden." May 30, 1825, Altemont Lodge,
Peterborough, N. H.,

"Voted that no account for spiritous liquors shall be allowed or paid for out of the
funds of the Lodge after this date."

The Grand Lodge of Connecticut recommended the disuse of ardent spirits at its
meeting in May, 1822, and the Grand Lodge of Vermont, Oct. 11, 1826, by a vote of
80 to 28, ruled

"That no ardent spirits or public dinner shall hereafter be furnished this Grand Lodge
at any of its communications."

And on Oct. 9, 1827, the Grand Lodge recommended to all subordinate lodges to

"Dispense with the use of ardent spirits on all public occasions."

In 1 842 the Grand Master of Ohio, who was a member of Lancaster Lodge,
introduced a series of resolutions in that lodge which were unanimously adopted
wherein the Masonic virtue of temperance was construed to mean total abstinence,
and the members of the lodge drew up and subscribed to a form pledge to neither
touch, taste, nor handle any ardent spirits, and

Resolved that hereafter no person shall be initiated into the mysteries of Masonry in
the Lodge, or be received into fellowship with the same, who shall not previous
thereto express his willingness to subscribe to this pledge.

AMUSING INCIDENTS

Here is where a brother having lost money in providing refreshments on the particular
evening, June 26, 1740, in the Lodge of Edinburgh, Scotland, was given a chance to
recoup his losses, as appears from the minutes of that date:

And in regaird Brother Patrick Grant hath been att a considerable trouble and expence
in providing liquors and other necessaries for this meeting, of which a very small part
hath been disposed of, by reason of the small company that have attended the same, it

was therefore likewise unanimously resolved upon that he have the benefits of
furnishing liquors and other necessaries to their next quarterly meeting, preferable to
any other persons whatsoever.

In Barrat and Sachse's "Freemasonry in Pennsylvania," quoting the minutes of a lodge
Dec. 24, 1770, we are left to conjecture that the brethren had a special purpose in
attending the meeting of the Grand Lodge, but were not given the opportunity of
accomplishing their object, for it reads:

Drank 3 bowls Toddy in about 3 hours which we waited on the Grand Lodge, paid
our Reckoning and went home.

And from the same source, under date of Aug. 17, 1771, we find the following
amusing decision:

The Determination of this Body that Bro. Glenn and Bro. Topham should shake
hands and drink to each other and forget all former Animosity.

Our predecessors were charitable in the higher sense also, and when an unfortunate
brother fell through drink, they did not give him up, rather they tried to raise him up.
As an illustration we quote the records of Union Band Lodge, No. 35, Saintfield,
Ireland:

Saintfield, 4th Dec. 1777.

I ... do hereby as a Mason promise before this Lodge that I will abstain from all
intoxicating drinks for 12 months, with the exception of refreshments in Lodge.

Signed W. J. M.

This unfortunate brother pleaded to be allowed one bottle of porter a day, but it was
denied him. They might as well have allowed him, yet they forgave him again.

If anyone fondly imagines that the following suggestion was a recent invention the
records of Union Lodge, Nantucket, Mass., over a century ago, prove to the contrary,
for we find, Nov. 2, 1795, a committee was appointed to confer with brother . .

respecting his misconduct in abusing himself with making use two (sic) freely of
strong Drink.

At the communication of Dec. 14, the brother denied that he was intoxicated, but was
"taken with cramp & could prove it."

Dr. William G. Hill, a member of Hiram Lodge, Raleigh, N. C., and at the time
(1842) its Junior Warden, took a very active part in having the use of refreshments in
a liquid form discontinued at the meetings of the Grand Lodge, it being the custom to
have a banquet at the close of each session, when it is said the members had a "merry
time." The Stewards provided the refreshments, and when the report of a committee
on the subject came up for consideration, he used this emphatic language:

Why, Most Worshipful Grand Master, the Stewards in their extravagant expenditures
furnish enough refreshment to keep themselves drunk the entire session, enough to
make the whole Grand Lodge drunk on the night of the banquet and then have enough
left to keep Hiram Lodge drunk the balance of the year.

O

The Comacines and the Traveling Gilds

By BRO. W. RAVENSCROFT, England

THE position in which the authors of the article in THE BUILDER for May
courteously place me as a Comacine advocate, permits, and I think, encourages, the
pleasure of some further remarks in reply to their article, relieving me also of the
responsibility of apology for doing so.

It seems to me, then, if I rightly read what they have written, that the outstanding
point to be dealt with is involved in the question, "What do we mean by the 'making
of Masons' or rather 'builders' as applied to the Operative Masonic Gilds of the
Middle Ages ?" If such was nothing more than the conferring of degrees, secrets and
occult knowledge to be accompanied by festivities and other functions, religious and
otherwise, then one must admit that these lodges may have been semi-permanent,
ephemeral, accidental, etc. But I am going to claim that while such initiations are
admitted, and I suppose nowhere denied, the Gilds of the Middle Ages were much
more than that. And I make this claim upon what I regard as the surest foundation,
viz. : the evidence written down in stone and wood, but, of course, more particularly
the former; evidence which cannot be and is not subject to being tampered with as so
much of that put down on paper may be. Permit me to note, then, the following:

First: Up to the 12th century there was from the downfall of Rome such remarkable
correspondence in the development of plan, detail and ornament in work done
throughout England from the North to the South with that of the Comacine builders as
to make the conclusion inevitable that some rule, authority or custom controlled
design and that, especially bearing in mind the difficulties of transit and other
communication, nothing short thereof could produce such result and that the
education which produced this must have been the principal item in the making of
Masons.

And it is a remarkable confirmation of this that down to the village church, and in
later days, the barn and the cottage, down to the simplest buildings which had any
pretense at architecture, as well as to the cathedral, stronghold and more important
buildings, an influence is so apparent that to an expert it is not difficult to discern
from a single stone with any moulds or ornament upon it within almost a quarter of a
century to what period it would belong. And this is the more remarkable since it does
not follow that because the evidence of "style" is present the workmanship is skilled.
One could give numbers of instances to show that while the design was, so to speak,
authorized, the workmanship was clumsy and bad; the work, in fact, of an
inadequately trained craftsman.

Second: The foregoing remarks as to some authority under heading 1, apply equally
to the periods which followed, viz. : the Gothic period and that of the Renaissance and
I have purposely divided them into these periods because between each there came an
important revolution. I refer to the incoming of Gothic Architecture at say about the
beginning of the 13th century and the "revival of learning about that of the 15th
century." The change from Norman work to Gothic work during 50 years was radical
in construction, design and ornament. So was that at the time of the Renaissance, but
contrary to what might have been expected, there was no sudden abandonment of one
style for another but periods of development during which with precision transition
intervened until one style had disappeared before the incoming of the successor and
all through the various changes within the Gothic time the same remark applies and at
the Renaissance upheaval the old was gradually merged with the new until quite lost-
witness the Elizabethan and Jacobean mansions and other structures.

Third: After the incoming of the Renaissance the whole order changed. The
Reformation not only suppressed the Monasteries but also the Gilds. The former, in
many instances, became the homes of the nobility, the latter the Clubs of Speculative
Masons, until so far as architecture was concerned, A would build in the style of
"Queen Anne" and B, next door, in that of "Mary Anne" or any other Anne.

Surely this justifies the conclusion that down to the time when the Gothic period was
ended and the classic revival was in full vogue, nothing can account for the stone

written history I have briefly sketched short of an organized body, or, if one prefer it,
organized associations directing and controlling at least the architecture of Western
Europe. And, roughly speaking, the end of the Gothic period and the decay of the
Gilds synchronizes with the beginning of Speculative Masonry when good fellowship
began to be the chief characteristic in evidence.

Lastly, if I may be permitted a reference to the "Master Mason" for May, 1926. 1 read
therein an article or English Freemasonry before the year 1717 (in which Bro. F. F.
Gould's views are set forth) and under the heading of "Oral Tradition" three very
eminent men are quoted as having written on this very point— Sir Christopher Wren,
Sir William Dugdale and Elias Ashmole. Before the year 1717, in which, under the
heading, "Oral Traditions,' three very eminent men are quoted as having held this
opinion. The passages are to be found in Gould's Concise' History [Revised Edition,
pages 53, 99 and 100] and are discussed at length in chapter twelve of the larger
work. The earliest in date is the report of Dugdale's belief by John Aubrey, which is
as follows:

Sir William Dugdale told me many years since, that about Henry the Third's time, the
Pope gave a bull or patent to a company of Italian Freemasons, to travel up and down
all Europe to build churches. From those are derived the Fraternity of adopted
Masons.

In the memoir of Elias Ashmole in the Biographia Britannica we are told by Dr.
Knipe:

What from Mr. Ashmole's collection I could gather was that the report of our Society
taking rise from a Bull granted by the Pope in the reign of Henry III to some Italian
architects to travel all over Europe to erect chapels was ill-founded. Such a Bull there
was, and those architects were masons. But this Bull, in the opinion of the learned
Mr. Ashmole, was confirmative only and did not by any means create our Fraternity
or even establish them in this kingdom.

The remaining quotation is from the Parentalia or Memoirs of the Family of the
Wrens:

The Italians (among whom were yet some Greek Refugees), and with them French,
German and Flemings, joined into a Fraternity of Architects, procuring Papal Bulls
for their Encouragement and particular Privileges; they styled themselves
Freemasons, and ranged from one Nation to another, as they found Churches to be
built.

It seems to me that these opinions should be considered very carefully. One is
inclined to wonder why, because traditions had grown up around these
pronouncements which were extravagant and false, he should, therefore, have
dismissed the lot. I am inclined to think that had he been acquainted more fully with
the Comacine theory, and the steady development and sequence of changes in English
architecture he would have concluded otherwise.

— o —

The Gild and the Lodge

By BROS. A. L. KRESS AND R. J. MEEKREN

IT would seem as if Bro. Ravenscroft had, in the preceding article, put his finger on
the real point at issue in posing the question, "What do we mean by the making of
Masons as applied to the Operative Gilds?" When, in the article in THE BUILDER
for May, to which he refers, we set forth a hypothesis of the relationship of the lodge
to the gild we had in view only the ritual significance of the term. If it be permitted to
go so far afield for a parallel, we might adduce the puberty rites of savage races,
which are known to those practicing them as "making men." The anthropological
analogies to Masonry must be handled with great reserve and caution on account of

the tendency there has been to build upon them hasty and ill considered speculations.
But in this case we are only seeking an illustration. According to the savage the half-
grown boy becomes a man by virtue of his initiation into the tribal mysteries. Yet
though this is the theory, yet the savage is practical enough, too, and the boy as well
as being initiated has generally to undergo a long course of training in addition before
he actually takes his place in the community as a fullfledged man. On the other hand,
physical strength and endurance, valor in war and skill in hunting do not alone qualify
him to be regarded as a man, many instances have been reported that definitely prove
this. There would thus seem to be two essential sets of qualifications, the ritual and
the practical, before the youth can marry, take his place in the tribal councils, and as it
were, enter into full citizenship.

Another parallel might be taken much nearer home, the rite of Baptism in the
Christian Church. The individual who is baptized becomes formally, or according to
high sacramental views, actually a child of God. Y et even those with the highest
views on the efficacy of the sacraments admit in practice the necessity of teaching
and discipline in addition. So also a man can be presented and introduced in a neat
little Latin speech (which all present must at least pretend to understand) to the
Chancellor of a University, who thereupon formally presents him with an imposing
document on parchment, also in Latin, after all which he may write "Doctor" after his
name. The degree may be either honoris causa or the result of years of hard work and
the passing of examinations. Here indeed we have a very close parallel between the
operative and speculative Mason. The Doctor, honoris causa, does not know anything
about Civil Laws or whatever else it is that he has been made Doctor of, and no one
expects that he should. Nevertheless it gives him Academic rank and standing that the
'operative' scholar, if we may so term him, has to work hard for. But there is this
difference between the two, if anyone wants information they go to the one who has
had the training and not to him who is only ceremonially qualified.

We venture to suggest, then, that the organization by and in which the Medieval
Masons and builders became such regularly and lawfully, according to the internal
economy of the crafts concerned, was the lodge. The distinction is important, the
adjectives might imply regularity and legality according to municipal ordinance and
the law of the land. It is the internal law of the group that is referred to; and the
attitude of a present day trades union man towards a worker who does not belong is
the kind of thing we mean. The apprentice had, of course, to learn his trade if he was
going to work at it, and this he would leam, as he always has done, in working under

the instruction of his master. But in order to be regarded as a "right" or "true" mason
he had also to be initiated, and this was the concern of the loosely organized
institution which emerges into the light of history under the name of the "lodge".

The gild as special form of association seems to be peculiarly a Medieval institution.
We would suppose that Masons formed themselves into gilds because every one else
did, and in the feudal form of society men were obliged to do so by an outer pressure.
The gilds very largely passed away when the state of society in which they had their
origin came to an end. As the lodge may have been much older than the gild so also it
survived it, because probably it had little or nothing to do with the practical side of
the craft. If we read Bro. Ravenscroft aright it would seem that he might almost be
prepared to accept this suggestion, or at least that he is not concerned to dispute it.

But he raises another point, and again if we rightly understand him, it is what he
regards as the essence of the Comacine theory. Here we feel we can give him some of
that definite denial for which his soul longs. Bro. Ravenscroft is such a genial and
kindly controversialist that we know he will forgive the little joke.

The question is, though it is apart from our own theory, whether the Masonic gilds
were like the other craft gilds of the time, merely local associations organized for
purely local purposes and having no connection with any other like bodies except that
they all had a general likeness of form and function, or whether they were only
branches of one inclusive organization, closely knit together and with an effective
centralized government or directing body, which was not only interested in wages,
hours and conditions of working and so on, like the other gilds, but was actively
concerned in planning important buildings and the details of style in architecture.

It cannot well be gainsaid that the possibility of such an organization existed, for one
thing we suggest something of the same sort for the lodge, only without any central
head. And besides there were the monastic and military orders, which did have chief
houses and generals set over all. But these were well known to the world at large, and
were the subject of jealous observation on the part both of the Papacy and secular
rulers. They wanted to know who was at the head of these bodies, and were
particularly anxious to put their own nominees in charge. Had there been such a
centralized organization of Masons extending all over Europe, it would have had to
have been in every sense of the word a secret one, or it would else have necessarily

been the subject of surveillance at least of the various governments, and in this case
some record would almost certainly have come down to us. It is only a negative
argument, of course, and is not conclusive, but we think that under the circumstances
it carries considerable weight.

Then again, if the central body was concerned with plans and architectural styles it
was in this totally unlike any trade or professional organization before or since. The
Medieval gilds, so far as can be gathered from their own records and external
references to them, were concerned with regulating the quality of workmanship,
prices, wages, number of apprentices, relations of the occupation to the community
and so on, while the teaching of the craft itself was left entirely to the individual
masters. It was indeed so far regulated that the master was under an obligation to
teach his apprentice thoroughly and to teach him all he knew, but the teaching itself
was an individual matter entirely.

The hypothesis of a central or universal gild as a sort of training college or general
staff controlling all important building operations seems to us unnecessary to explain
the facts so ably collected and set forth by Bro. Ravenscroft in his various works.

That there was a continuity of style is undoubted, the question only is how it is to be
accounted for. It may be that the advantage (or disadvantage), that by a coincidence
we both possess of having had a training in the craft or profession of engineer, which
in the modern world takes a similar place in the community that the Mason's craft did
in the Middle Ages, may lead us to see the matter in a somewhat different light. To
the trained man a casual walk through a machine shop, for example, may be quite
enough to show him all he needs to know about a new way of using some tool, or a
more advantageous method of handling a certain class of work. In the same way the
Medieval craftsman had only to visit some recently erected building to grasp anything
new in constructural methods, or in detail of design. New types of mouldings, or
ornament, experiments in proportions and so on would be noted at once. Medieval
architects used sketchbooks too, some of them still exist, and we think that in this
way the rapid diffusion of new forms and styles are quite adequately accounted for.

It may, of course, be objected that means of communication were few and bad.
Nevertheless they existed and were used. Pilgrimages were constant, it is probable
that almost every one at some time or other made one. Perhaps only to some nearby

shrine, but often enough, too, into foreign lands, and to Rome itself. Besides that, the
mason and builder was then, as he is today, a migratory bird, and wandered far afield
in the pursuit of his avocation.

Finally, and what seems to us the greatest difficulty of all, style in a building is a
question of art, and no art was ever yet produced by a committee. Schools of art there
have been, of course, but they imply no more than the learning by pupils a technique
from a master, and carrying on a tradition with modifications resulting from
individual peculiarities and genius. For all these reasons, while we willingly admit the
weight of architectural evidence for the existence of a noble tradition, of a specific
style diffused over certain areas, we are not able to concur in the theory that this was
due to the action, conservative or constructive, of a central and authoritative
organization that drew up the designs and sent them out to the local builders, or even
of the existence of a central school or college in which architects were trained in
certain principles and to work on specific models. If this is what Bro. Ravenscroft
believes, then we must confess that we do disagree with him.

— o —

FURTHER NOTES ON THE GILD

By Bro. W. RAVENSCROFT

By the courtesy of the Editor of THE BUILDER I am permitted to see an advance
proof of the foregoing article and to add a word or two in reference to it. I must not
take advantage of that kindness by writing at length, but I gladly avail myself of the
opportunity of just a few words.

The distinction between "lodge" and "gild" is one which perhaps I ought to have kept
more carefully in view in my article as I think it helps to clear the point at issue.

Wren's Parentalia speaks of a "Fraternity of Architects" whose government was
regular, but who ranged from nation to nation. Dugdale calls them a "Company of
Italian Architects who traveled all over Europe and who had several Lodges in several
countries." Ashmole refers to them as Italian Architects "who were Masons" traveling
about and as existing before the time of Henry III.

All this looks like a widespread organization (Gild, if you like in the broader sense of
the word) with a more or less permanent character, and lodges formed of members of
this Association, local, and perhaps temporary in character.

I hold then that these lodges were controlled in some way by the Gild, or I would go
so far as to say Gilds, since I do not identify them with Italy alone. But I do not for a
moment claim a central Gild or authority drawing up plans, issuing instructions and
training architects; so that when I mention "some authority", an expression which of
necessity must be somewhat vague, I rather intend to convey the idea of a consensus
of opinion whereby Masons worked on similar lines in matters of architectural style
which developed and even changed from period to period on regular and ordered
lines; as for instance the use of the pointed arch which superseded the round one. I
think the absence of a central Gild dominating everything is proved by the influences
of various schools, Byzantine, Ravenese and Comacine on each other, as well as by
the individuality of detail which marked the work even in Great Britain alone, to say
nothing of our English departure from Continental ideals.

But beneath these variations there was some fundamental unity of thought and
expression common to the workers in Europe and our brethren of the British Isles,
and that if Craftsmen and Apprentices were educated in lodges, as they may well have
been, it was under accepted traditions that they were so trained. And I am not sure
whether we concede enough to the influence of the Monastic Orders and the
Episcopacy. We find the names in England, at any rate, associated with the great
works of the Middle Ages to be those of ecclesiastics rather than the architects, and
perhaps are inclined to think this a bit of usurpation. But let us take the case of the
cistercian buildings, where we find carved ornament conspicuous by its absence
although the general character of such buildings conformed to the style of the period.

This was on account of the idea held by that severely ruled order that such ornament
was not admissible, a kind of Puritanism inculcated by that giant of the order, St.
Bernard.

Surely this peculiarity, as contrasted let us say, with buildings erected by the
Benedictines, must have implied some control of design on the part of the monks, and
it may be that after all they were, in some cases at least, the leading architects. If the
Cistercians could thus influence architectural design why should not the other Church
authorities and monastic bodies do the same? Bros. Kress and Meekren seem to hold
that a common tradition and technique were quite sufficient to account for the
difficulty we are discussing, but I am afraid I do not feel quite satisfied as to the
adequacy of this opinion, although I cannot add what I think is still wanting.

But we are not far apart, and somehow each time we write we get nearer together. A
happy thing indeed if we are converging toward the truth.

— o —

The Background of Masonic History in the 1 8th Century

By PROF. E. E. BOOTHROYD, Canada

THIS second article by Prof. Boothroyd is even more interesting than the first one
which appeared in the April number of The Builder. Masonic students are often led to
misinterpret the early historical records of the Craft owing to their neglect of outside
current events of the time. In this article the author gives a vivid picture of a restless
and disturbed transition period.

AS an appreciation of the general aspect of the early eighteenth century supplies an
answer to the questions why Masonry should have been reorganized at that particular
time, and why that reorganization should have centered at London; so a knowledge of
the conditions of life and thought— the atmosphere of the times-will account for the
nature of that reorganization and the new direction given to the activities of the
institution. The medieval craft guild was an organization developed in a particular
state of society to supply the needs of, and perform certain functions necessary in,
that particular condition of society. With the change from medieval to modern life
those needs were no longer or were differently felt, those functions no longer
necessary or transferred to other institutions. The raison d'etre of the craft-guild had
therefore vanished, and the institution was faced with the alternative of itself
vanishing with the conditions which had given it life, or adapting itself to its changed
environment and remodelling itself to supply needs of, and perform functions
requisite under the new regime.

To the outside observer, the craft-guild of the middle ages would seem to have had a
four- fold function— economic, eleemosynary, religious and social. It determined the
conditions of production, arranged for the support of the sick, needy and bereaved
within its ranks, played its part in the all pervasive religious activity of the age by the
maintenance of chantries or the care of special portions of religious edifices, catered
to the gregarious instinct of humanity by its guild banquets and so forth, and, in that
borderland where religious and social activities intermingle and where today the
Women's Auxiliaries and Young Men's Christian Association play their parts,
arranged for the production of Miracle and Mystery Plays at the great festival of
Corpus Christi. Of most of these functions it had been deprived by the political,
economic and religious changes which transformed medieval into modern society.

The regulation of industrial conditions had been taken over by Parliament, and the
relief of the indigent devolved upon the parochial system; the Reformation had swept
away the chantries and simplified religious ceremonial; the birth of the true drama
and the consequent rise of professional actors and permanent theatres had superseded
the Miracle and Mystery and the waggon-stage or "pageant" on which they had been
performed by the guilds. The social instinct, that craving of men to meet and associate
with their fellows, alone remained of all those medieval needs which had been
supplied by the organization of the craft-guild. This social instinct is not, however,
satisfied by the mere act of assembling together except in such imaginary cases as the
Hum-Drum Club described by Addison "made up of very honest gentlemen, of
peaceable dispositions, that used to sit together, smoke their pipes and say nothing till
midnight." There must be some definite reason for the assemblage, some common
occupation for those assembled together. Moreover, if the institution is to become

popular and acquire wide influence, this reason and this occupation must be in
harmony with the thoughts and feelings of society as a whole. Hence the necessity,
for a true understanding of the reorganization of the Masonic Craft in the eighteenth
century, of a familiarity with the character of the age, a knowledge of the thoughts,
feelings, ideals, and longings of the time in conformity with which the institution
must have been reshaped and its activities redirected.

There is only one way in which such a knowledge and understanding of eighteenth
century atmosphere can be acquired, the way pointed out by Taine in the well-known
passage, "a literary work is not a mere play of the imagination, the isolated caprice of
an excited brain, but a transcript of contemporary manners and customs and the sign
of a particular state of intellect. The conclusion derived from this is that, through
literary monuments, we can retrace the way in which men felt and thought many
centuries ago." To steep oneself in eighteenth century literature, to saturate the mind
and emotions with the Tatler and Spectator essays, the poems of Pope and the
Beggar's Opera, with the letters of Chesterfield, the sermons of John and the hymns of
Charles Wesley, with the satires of Swift and the novels of Fielding, is the only
method of reaching a sympathetic comprehension of the state of mind and feeling of
the men who founded the Grand Lodge and remodeled the Masonic Craft.

The first impression derived from contact with the writers of the period is one of a
predominant materialism. The men and women of the time seem wrapped up in the
things of this world, dead to all calls and interests of a higher nature. Drunkenness
and sensuality are rampant. Gin has recently been discovered and the inn-keepers
inform the public that one can "get drunk for a penny, dead-drunk for two-pence;"
while the story that George II's daughter remarked, when his dapper majesty's
immediate fancy appeared to be losing the royal favour, that she hoped he would soon
take another mistress, so that things would be easier for her mother, throws a glaring
light on the moral sensibility of society. And, work of genius though it is, there is a
strain of coarseness and brutality in Tom Jones that makes the modern reader feel the
need of a moral and social wash and brush-up after the perusal of Fielding's
masterpiece. Nor does the political life of the day afford a more edifying spectacle.
Walpole has systematized the parliamentary bribery and corruption begun in the reign
of Charles II., and can say of a noisy group of Opposition members, "Each of those
men has his price;" while the ministers of the Hanoverian sovereign are
corresponding with the Pretender at st. Germains and assuring him of their devotion
to his interests, with a cynical disregard of their oaths of office and allegiance. In

religious affairs the spectacle of a Dean of St. Patrick's basing his opposition to the
abolition of Christianity on the argument that it "might have a detrimental effect on
the emoluments of the Anglican clergy," is not suggestive of a high level of religious
thought and feeling. Such a period of materialism and coarse pleasure-seeking is,
however, what the student of history would expect at this stage in view of the natural
reactions of human character and of society. After a prolonged period of religious and
idealistic activity, of political and ecclesiastical strife, such as that of the Reformation
and the religious and constitutional struggles of the seventeenth century, it was almost
inevitable that men should relax their moral and emotional tension and abandon
themselves to the business and pleasure of the world. This reaction had begun at the
Restoration, as those familiar with Pepys' Diary will realize as they recall the
passages in which the distinguished Admiralty official relates how, feeling something
hard in an envelope handed him by one to whom he had done an official favour, he
shut his eyes while he shook out the coins, that he might swear he saw no money in
the letter when he opened it; or how he desisted from his attempt to hold a strange,
but apparently attractive, lady's hand in church when "1 did perceive that she took a
pin out of her pocket to prick me if I did persist." And the materialistic reaction thus
begun continued well into the eighteenth century.

But a wider and deeper acquaintance with the literature of the time will show that this
condition of materialism, sensuality and disregard of religion and honour is not the
only aspect of the age. Under the stagnant and noisome surface of the water there is
movement and life of a very different character, germinating and developing,
awaiting the time when the natural tendency to reaction should bring it in its turn to
the top, to dissipate the accumulated scum of moral and emotional sluggishness, and
stir the waters to new life and energy. The degradation into which the reaction against
the narrow Puritan morality of the kingless decade had plunged society under Charles
II. had produced a natural revulsion of feeling. Even at the height of Caroline license
we find Pepys recording his wish that Charles would leave his mistresses and devote
himself to the business of the nation, and his disgust at the venality and pleasure-
seeking of high officials; and at the close of the century Jeremy Collier publishes his
rebuke of the grossness of the Restoration drama in the famous "Short view of the
Profaneness and Immorality of the English stage." With the beginning of the
eighteenth century we can note the strengthening of the moral reaction in the work of
nearly every writer of importance. The satires of Swift may have been, nay, they
almost certainly were, merely the expression of the author's savage scorn of the
pettiness of human nature; but in the pages of Addison and Steele, of Richardson and
Fielding, may be traced a profound belief in the real soundness of mankind, and a
desire to promote the triumph of morality and common sense over the evil and folly

into which the Caroline reaction had led. Addison, Steele and Richardson wrote with
a purpose, and if Fielding was drawn into novel writing merely by the desire of a
robust human being to mock at the anemic sensibility of his predecessor Richardson,
it is easy to discern beneath his superficial coarseness a sane healthy view of life and
character. The creator of Parson Adams and Amelia was no Caroline reprobate or
approver of the Rochesters and Sedleys of life.

The general aspect of the early eighteenth century as revealed in its literary record is
thus of a two-fold character. On the one hand is a dominant materialism and
somewhat cynical immorality; on the other, a clearly-marked moral and social
revulsion against the evil tendencies of the age. By one or other of these
characteristics the reorganization of Masonry must surely have been influenced. The
Institution must have been regarded by those who were remodeling its form and
reshaping its activities, either as a means of securing the cakes and ale of life, or of
subserving the higher aims of man. But the general condition of the age could only
affect the general tone of the Craft; the details of the reorganization must have been
influenced by the particular currents, tendencies and activities of the time.

On these contemporary interests and activities few works of the period throw a
greater light than those daily essays which Addison, Steele and Budgell published as
the reflections of Mr. Spectator and the real or fictitious letters of his correspondents.
Dependent on their sales to meet the expenses of publication and provide
remuneration for their literary labours, the essayists must have sought to appeal to the
interests of as wide a clientele as possible, and the immediate and extensive
popularity of the paper testifies to the success which attended their efforts. A leisurely
perusal, then, of the eight volumes into which the daily Spectator essays were finally
collected- "leisurely," for that was the character of the age— will serve as a substitute
for Mr. H. G. Wells' Time-Machine, transport the reader two centuries back into the
past, and enable him to breathe the atmosphere of the eighteenth century; while an
examination of the topics discussed and the method in which they are handled will
afford a clue to those public tastes and interests to which the Masonic reformers must,
in their sphere, have conformed.

Perhaps the first characteristic that will attract such a reader's attention will be the
social aspect of the age. It was during this epoch that "Society" was bom in England.

Now "Society" is one of those nebulous words the exact meaning of which it is not
easy to realize, still less easy to express. Included in the content of the meaning is,
however, a centripetal tendency on the part of the individual members of the
community, a tendency to gather together, especially in the leisure moments of life —
which aspect of the meaning will explain how the term "Society" comes to be applied
to that section of the community which is not under the necessity of daily toil to
secure the means of subsistence; the prominence of the fair sex in this "Society ;" and,
incidentally, why lodge meetings are generally held in the evening, when "man
resteth from his labours." Further, the idea of "Society" implies the formulation of
rules and regulations for behaviour and even for costume at these social gatherings,
and eventually on all occasions. This course of action is the proper one, the other
thing "isn't done." It is "correct" to wear a black tie with evening dress on this
occasion, a white tie on that. In the little matter of expectoration, I have somewhere
read that Queen Elizabeth expressed her annoyance with a certain gentleman in
biblical fashion by spitting upon his richly embroidered costume (corroboration may
be afforded by a well-known passage in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice). In the
reign of Charles II. Samuel Pepys records in his diary the fact that entering the
playhouse late and sitting in a back and dark seat, a "lady" did spit upon him over her
shoulder, which action, the lady proving well-favoured, he seems to have taken in
good part and made use of as a sort of introduction. Today Society proclaims the
impropriety of the public performance of this ancient rite in neatly printed injunctions
in street cars and railway carriages. The regulation and organization of social conduct
and social activities in the eighteenth century is humorously brought out in those
Spectator essays which deal with fashions of dress, coiffure and facial decoration,
with the habit of "staring" and the Masquerade, and the suggestion that tatting might
form a suitable occupation for idle young "men about town." This rise of "Society,"
with its regulation of costumes, behaviour and taste on this, that, and the other
occasion, was an all-pervasive condition of the time which must have been in the
thoughts and influenced the actions of the gentlemen of the Goose and Gridiron.

Connected with this general development of society and social life, and the
organization of the leisure activities of the individual is the rise, within society at
large, of particular groupings for particular purposes, the formation of numerous clubs
on which Addison dilates in Number 9 of the Spectator. "Man," says the essayist, "is
said to be a social animal, and, as an instance of it, we may observe, that we take all
occasions and pretenses of forming ourselves into those little nocturnal assemblies,
which are commonly known by the name of clubs." The evolution of the club at this
time in London from the gathering of men with common interests at particular taverns
and coffeehouses is one of the most interesting features of the time, and its novelty

and importance are attested, not only by its treatment in this particular essay, and in
countless contemporary references, but also by the fact that the authors founded a
fictitious "Spectator Club" to direct the publication and discuss the topics to be treated
and the method in which they should be handled.

Originating in London, the institution spread throughout the land, a fact which bears
witness to another prominent feature of the period, the change in the position of the
capital city, and the growth of the conception of London, not as A town, or even THE
town, but as TOWN; as something distinct from other urban aggregations not merely
in size, but in character. With the development of organic nationality the need of a
brain and heart to direct national action and pump the blood of life to all parts of the
trunk and limbs of the body national was supplied by this change in the view of
London which was held by Londoner and provincial alike, and in the relation of the
city to the rest of the country. Society needed a central seat, an arbiter elegantiaium or
dictator of form and fashion; a critic of life in all its varied activities; and this London
now supplied. What was worn in "town" was the question in the minds and on the lips
of-all; how the day was spent; what London thought of this or that. And as one
realizes this fact one appreciates how the formation of a Grand Lodge at London— the
center of the national nervous system would be felt throughout the length and breadth
of the land, and the fashions and activities of that central body adopted and copied by
gatherings in provincial centers.

Into the life of this newly-realized "society" had come an interest which, as a source
of social grouping and social activity, a topic of meal-time and salon conversation,
had, perhaps, lain dormant since the decline of Athenian democracy— the interest of
politics. Political activity, the determination of policy and the conduct of government,
had not, of course, ceased from the fall of the violet-crowned queen of the Aegean to
the times of Anne and George I; but at Rome and during the middle ages the tendency
had been for government to be left in the hands of a small number of sovereigns,
nobles and officials, and, except when conditions became intolerable, ignored by the
mass of the population as something outside their sphere and perhaps beyond their
comprehension. When Edward III asked the advice of Parliament on a matter of
foreign politics the Commons humbly begged to be excused from speaking on
"matters too great for their poor wits", and when the Lower House did presume to
offer advice on foreign policy under James I the king angrily forbade them to "meddle
with mysteries of state too high for them." With the triumph of Parliament over the
Crown and the rise of the party-system in the reign of Charles II, a change came over

the scene and politics, in the modern meaning of the term, were bom. Questions of
war, peace and alliance, the actions of foreign rulers and ministers, and matters of
domestic policy became staples of conversation. The Spectator tells of the coffee-
house Solons who knew and canvassed the minds and aims of foreign statesmen, and
of ladies who showed their party leanings by the side of the face on which they wore
their patches; while the rise of Addison himself from poverty and obscurity to the
position of Secretary of state through his ability as a party-pamphleteer bears witness
to the rise of that public opinion on matters political and the importance to the
politician of securing its favor which gave us the daily press. Here was a condition of
affairs which must have entered into the minds and calculations of the Masonic
reformers. Just when those religious differences which had sharply divided
Englishmen in the seventeenth century had been composed by the Toleration Act, a
new element of division had arisen in politics, as the breach in the lifelong friendship
of Addison and Steel over the Peerage Bill shows. For this new interest allowance
must be made. Politics must be one of the activities of the Order, or the notice "No
Admission for Politics" must be inscribed over the entrance to the Masonic Lodge.

The earlier part of the seventeenth century had been a period of emotional activity.
Men had felt strongly and deeply, as the character of contemporary literature shows.
The Caroline Age is the great lyric epoch of English literary history, the time of
Herbert and Herrick, Suckling, Lovelace and Carew, and song is an appeal to the
emotions; while even the prose of the period assumes a semi-poetic form, appealing
to the heart rather than to the brain, as a hundred ringing phrases from Milton's prose-
works in the vein of the oft-quoted lines from the Areopagitica, "I cannot praise a
fugitive and cloistered virtue," or "There be delights, there be recreations and jolly
pastimes that will fetch the day about from sun to sun, and rock the tedious year as in
a delightful dream," will testify. Cromwell, the heroic character of the age, was a man
of deep feeling, revealed in passionate championship of the poor and oppressed, the
ever-recurring outburst in his letters to the Speaker, "sir, this was none other than the
hand of God," and the fact that his own death was hastened at the loss of his daughter.
With the reign of Charles II the brain begins to take precedence of the heart. Men
begin to think rather than to feel. And, in spite of such outbursts of popular passion as
those which marked the Popish Plot and the Sacheverell Trial, the emotional fires die
down. The new age is characterized by great critical and speculative activity. The
founding of the Royal Society in the reign of Charles II, and the part played therein
by men who were not professed or professional savants, by admiralty officials like
Pepys and country gentlemen like Evelyn, each of whom became its President, reveal
the intellectual curiosity which was one of the dominant notes of the time, and which
is summed up in the life and work of Sir Isaac Newton. It was at this epoch, as

Professor Bury points out in his "Idea of Progress," that the all-important conception
of the onward and upward movement of mankind was fully grasped; that men began
to think of Paradise, not as in Milton's epic as in the remote past, but in the remote
future; of the changes in human conditions as development along a line, an undulating
line, maybe, leading into valleys as well as on to heights, but not the round and round
a circle process, from Golden Age to Golden Age and then round once more, which it
had appeared to the ancient Greek. How widely and strongly this critical and
speculative interest was felt is demonstrated by the nature of those Spectator essays
which were designed as their authors stated, not for the philosopher's closet and the
schools, but to form a part of the tea-equipage of every well-appointed table. The
daily sheets of Addison and Steele provide for the entertainment of that social hour a
critical survey of life in all its varied aspects and activities; their readers are invited to
reflect upon dress and superstition, upon the character of the Italian Opera and its
suitability to English taste, on grinning, staring, the use of cosmetics, the construction
of an epic and the character of the ballad. The essays on True and False Wit, on
Chevy Chase and Paradise Lost carry on that English literary criticism which, in any
real sense, was born in the Prefaces of Dry den. Masons may find something
suggestive in the constant description of their writings by the essayists as
"Speculations". The same phenomenon of the critical and speculative occupation of
social leisure meets us at a little later date in the pages of Boswell's Johnson, in the
constant series of questions which elicited the sage's dicta on a hundred and one
subjects from the winter habitat of swallows to the credibility of Christian evidence.

As the subject-matter of contemporary literature reveals the interests and activities of
an age, so do its form and style reflect its general character and attitude to life. Now it
has been held, and in the main truly held, of the writers of this age, that the matter of
their works was subordinated to the form, that what was said mattered less than how
it was said, and that their creed was accurately stated in Pope's well-known lines:

True art is nature to advantage dressed, What oft was thought, but ne'er so well
expressed.

The inference is that the age of Anne and the early Georges was a formal age in
which attention was directed chiefly to externals, and the inference is borne out by the
very suggestive letters of Lord Chesterfield to his son, directing the latter's attention

to details of dress and behavior and reminding him that his dancing-master was the
most important personage in the formative period of his life. Consideration of form
and ceremonial, of the correct way of doing things, must therefore have occupied
much of the thought of the men and women of the eighteenth century. And this was
natural in view of the material and social aspect of the age. But as in the case of the
dominant materialism and pleasure- seeking of the period allowance had to be made
for a contradictory current of moral feeling, so this view of the formalism and
objectivity of eighteenth century literature requires some qualification. In his
"Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement" Professor Phelps has drawn
attention to the existence from the earliest years of the century of a sub-current of
romantic thought and writing flowing against the main stream of classical "Augustan"
literature, and revealed in the work of such writers as Croxall, Lady Winchelsea,
Parnell, Ramsay and Thomson. Here, then, is a minor subjective and mystic phase of
life and thought, to some extent qualifying the dominant externalism and objectivity,
and perhaps revealed in even so classical an artist as Addison in those Oriental tales
and allegories which were so popular with the readers of the Spectator.

Such, in very brief and imperfect outline, were the character, the interests and
activities of the early eighteenth century as revealed in the literature of the age. In
such an atmosphere of materialism and sensuality tempered by the rise of a moral
feeling, of social and political life organized in clubs and parties, of formalism and
ceremonial slightly tinctured With mysticism, of intense intellectual, critical and
speculative activity, with their minds and feelings permeated and their actions
predetermined by some at least of these interests and characteristics, the fathers of
modern Freemasonry met at the Goose and Gridiron in London, that "town" which
had become the center of the national nervous system, to inaugurate the first Grand
Lodge.

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EDITORIAL

R. J. MEEKREN Editor-in-Charge

BOARD OF EDITORS

LOUIS BLOCK, Iowa
ROBERT L. CLEGG, Ohio
GILBERT W. DAYNES, England
RAY V. DENSLOW, Missouri
GEORGE H. DERN, Utah
N.W.J. HAYDON, Canada
R.V. Harris, Canada
C. C. HUNT, Iowa
CHARLES F. IRWIN. Ohio
A.L. KRESS, Pennsylvania
F.H. LITTKLEFIELD, Missouri
JOSEPH E. MORCOMBE, California
JOSEPH FORT NEWTON, New York
ARTHUR C. PARKER, New York
JESSE M. WHITED, California
DAVID E. W. WILLIAMSON, Nevada

MISUNDERSTANDING

THERE are some people - we have all met them, who seem to be perpetually
mistaking, or taking amiss, the meaning or intentions of what others say or do, or
write. As the phrase goes "they take things the wrong way." Beyond such
standardized utterances as "Dinner is ready"; "It is time to go"; or "Please remit at
your earliest convenience"; they seem - to their victims - to take a positively perverse
delight in hunting up some interpretation that not only had never occurred to the
speaker, but is the furthest possible from his meaning.

Naturally, in any given case, the reason is not necessarily the same. Some are hasty,
they catch at a word or two which calls up for them certain associations and without
paying attention further jump to d conclusion. Others are superficial and never look
beneath the surface, and if what is being said goes below the surface banalities current
in social intercourse they cannot fathom it - they do not try indeed, but give the
utterance a surface meaning. A certain writer was dealing once with a very profound
subject, the relationship of God to man, and he made the statement that though He
was Our Father, He was not a fond parent. The phrase disturbed a lot of good people
and they wrote letters about it, angry, caustic, critical and reproachful. They had all
jumped to the conclusion that instead of having chosen his adjective with the greatest
care to express exactly what he meant, he had taken it at random, as presumably they
would have done, and meant merely that God was to us unsympathetic, hard,
unpitying - nothing was further from his thought, as the rest of the article made
perfectly clear.

In other cases pre-occupation with another subject, temporary or habitual, leads to
misapprehension. Make a passing allusion to the Constitution to an ardent
prohibitionist, and a certain amendment comes to his mind. Speak of law and its
enforcement and he goes off at a tangent into the subject of bootlegging and its
prevention. Yet again the reason for misunderstanding may lie deeper and be more
obscure still, it may be rooted in the subconscious working of personal antagonisms,
of jealousy, envy or fear. And more confusing still any and all of these and like
causes may function together, mixed in any proportion. Two people personally
antagonistic cannot agree even about the weather, anything whatever will serve as a
cause for dispute.

Leaving that aside as rather hopeless, and confining ourselves to the mistakes that can
be explained and cleared away, some more examples may be given that have recently
come to our notice. There is much said today, this thought is parenthetical, about
education; we are supposed, and doubtless have, made great advances, nevertheless it
would seem as if the great ideal of what used to be called a "liberal education" in "arts
and humanities" has been lost sight of in the mass of new special aims and methods.
That ideal was simple, so simple that no one ever formulated it; it was to enable a
man to read and understand, not one thing but anything. A mind so trained is a very
great asset to the body social even if its possessor is not an expert on something or
other and even if he would not shine in firing off answers to a newspaper general-
knowledge questionnaire.

A month or two ago, in a journal of considerable literary pretensions, was an article
on things in general, the author of which took the standpoint of that cynicism which is
supposed to be the very latest thing and which is as old as the book of Ecclesiasticus,
or older. He quoted and enlarged upon a very well-known verse from Pippa Passes,
to-wit:

"God's in His heaven, all's right with the world."

He introduced it with the remark that it was doubtless after partaking of a good
breakfast that Browning was moved thus to sing.

Now dismissing as quite irrelevant the fact that this writer may have justification in
accusing us of mistaking him in the very way that we have been pointing out, by
criticizing a non-essential remark casually made; and merely noting, that though in
most people a warm, albeit temporary, feeling of optimism is induced by the
absorption of a good meal, yet very few can do their best work in such a state,
whether writing poems or digging ditches; we will draw attention to the fact that the
point of the refrain quoted from this poem has been quite missed. It is not Browning's
song, but Pippa's. This is important; for the tale tells how the determined will of a
poor little, half-starved, ill-paid, over-worked factory girl to be happy and to make the
best of things in spite of everything, entered into and profoundly affected the lives of

others. Browning was an optimist, but not of the after-dinner, wine-and-walnut type.
It was apparently his object to set forth the very worst aspect of things, of men and
circumstances, and the inevitable tragedies of life, and yet leave his reader able to
infer that in spite of all there was room to believe in God, and the good and the
beautiful and the true.

In another periodical, devoted to the interests of a certain church, there was at about
the same time an article on missionary work in India, and the writer quoted another,
and today even better known refrain:

"Oh, the East is East and the West is West
And never the twain shall meet."

and then proceeded to intimate that Kipling was quite and absolutely wrong, that
under the influence of the labors of the apostles of a certain denomination at least, the
East not only could but did meet the West. Kipling, of course, is particularly liable to
such misuse, for, apart from the fact that he never explains, he writes lines and coins
phrases so striking, and so "eminently quotable", that they claim the attention and
abide in the memories of the dullest. Doubtless hundreds are familiar with these lines
who never read the poem in which they occur.

In reality no writer in English since Shakespeare is so impersonal as Kipling. He tells
us nothing of himself, it is not what he says but what the people say of whom he
speaks, and they are obviously real people and could only have spoken or acted thus,
even if they never "dwelt on sea or shore", or had their being in any time or space
known to philosophers, even the followers of Einstein.

It is quite possible - there are tricks in all trades - that in both these cases the writers
were familiar with their respective quotations but not with their context. Had the
second gone on to the succeeding lines-

"There is neither East nor West

Nor border breed or birth"-

there would have been something to give him pause, and had he considered the whole
ballad he would have seen that Kipling had merely said in his way what he was trying
to say in matter-of-fact prose.

Some may remember - it is ages ago now - the wave of wrath and indignation that ran
through Canada when the poem Our Lady of the Snows was first published, a poem
which embodied in beautiful and moving verse a very gracious compliment to the
country and its people. But the latter, at least the newspaper writers who undertook to
speak for them, flared out at the title. Canadians had then recently become very
sensitive about the climate of their country; they had begun to feel that they were too
well renowned for exceedingly low temperatures. It had come to be regarded as very
bad advertising to even mention "winter." If Winter Comes had not then been written,
but if it had the book would doubtless have been put under ban. The words "snow"
and "ice" were to be removed entirely from Canadian editions of standard
dictionaries. And then to have their country personified under the name of Our Lady
of the Snows - it was too much. All the nice things said of them in the poem counted
for nothing, they but added to the insult.

The Bible is another book that has suffered greatly in this way. Had it not there would
perhaps have been fewer warring sects calling and professing themselves Christians.
But perhaps the thing was the other way round, had there been fewer sects there
would have been less misinterpretation, for centuries people have been wresting
scripture to their own damnation probably we are misusing the quotation here, but
never mind, it will serve. Passages from the Bible have been torn from their context,
and pieced together to support dreadful doctrines - we are not going to specify what
doctrines - but most will agree that there have been dreadful doctrines thus defended.
St. Paul has been set against St. James because one stresses faith and the other works,
yet St. Paul said also exactly what St. James did, had men only been looking to find
out what he meant and not seeking to use him as authority for their own opinions.

Needless to say, Freemasonry, too, has suffered the same way. The misconceptions of
opponents we may leave out of consideration, but those of Masons are important.
Again we have no intention of going into detail; but the very different opinions that
every thoughtful member of the Craft will have come across will make it
unnecessary. The most widely varying ideas as to the real purpose and function of the
Institution are to be found, but perhaps should be put in a different category. But
when it comes to the elementary and fundamental duties and responsibilities laid on
members and lodges it is another matter. They should be, one would think, clear
enough. Yet they seem, like the law of Moses, to be voided of all real meaning, and a
Pharisaical system of tithing mint, anise and cummin (or its modern equivalents we
hasten to add, lest we, too, be misunderstood) put in the place of the plain meaning of
the precepts of the Royal Art. Masonry suffers, as all big things do, for its size, the
wood is not seen because the trees hide it.

"Go round about Zion," said the Psalmist, "tell the towers thereof; mark well her
bulwarks, consider her palaces." To one who approached by the Joppa gate, and went
no further, the Joppa gate would thenceforth be for him Jerusalem. Those who would
understand a thing must be prepared to go round about and enter in and see from
every point-and even then they will probably not agree.

* * *

WALTER CLIFFORD BURRELL

On Oct. 1, Bro. Walter Clifford Burrell died at the Henrotin Hospital, Chicago,
following a serious operation.

Bro. Burrell's Masonic affiliations were in Iowa and New York, but he will be best
known as President of the Masonic History Company, which has for many years
published revisions of Mackey's works.

He was an enthusiastic supporter of the National Masonic Research Society from its
inception. He was also a member of the Correspondence Circle of Quatuor Coronati
Lodge.

Those who knew him intimately know well his keen desire for progress of Masonic
scholarship. He loved the Craft and his pleasure was in its advancement. He took all
his obligations seriously. No worthy cause found him lacking in sympathy. His hand
ever ready to aid, his tongue to speak the kindly word. American Masonry in him has
suffered a very great loss.

— o —

THE NORTHEAST CORNER

Bulletin of the

National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association

Incorporated by Authority of the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, A.F. & A.M.

MASONIC TEMPLE, ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

OFFICERS AND BOARD OF GOVERNORS

HERBERT B. HOLT, Grand Master, President

JAFFA MILLER, Vice-President
RICHARD H. HANNA, Vice-President

ALPHEUS A. KEEN, Secretary

FRANCIS E LESTER, Executive Secretary, Las Cruces, New Mexico
JOHN W. TURNER, Treasurer

ARIZONA - Lloyd C. Henning, Holbrook.

ARKANSAS - Claude L. Hill, Grand Master, Booneville.

CONNECTICUT - Fred A. Borland, Past Grand Master, South Manchester.
FLORIDA - Cary B. Fish, Grand Master, Sarasota.

IDAHO - Will H. Gibson, Grand Master, Boise.

KENTUCKY - G. Allison Holland, Grand Master, Lexington.
MINNESOTA - Albert F. Pray, Grand Master, Minneapolis,

MISSISSIPPI - John R. Tally, Grand Master, Hattiesburg.

MISSOURI - Wm. W. Martin, Grand Master, Daniphan

NEW JERSEY - Benjamin F. Havens, Junior Grand Warden, Trenton.

NEW MEXICO - Herbert B. Holt, Grand Master, Las Cruces.

NORTH CAROLINA - Dr. J. C. Braswell, Past Grand Master, Whitakers.
OKLAHOMA - Gilbert B. Bristow, Past Grand Master, Roosevelt.

RHODE ISLAND - Howard Knight, Past Grand Master, Providence.
SOUTH CAROLINA - Charlton DuRant, Grand Master, Manning
SOUTH DAKOTA - L. M. Simons, Grand Master, Bellefourche.
TENNESSEE - Andrew E. McCullagh, Grand Master, Maryville.

TEXAS - Dr. Felix P. Miller, El Paso.

UTAH - Fred M. Nye, Ogden.

VERMONT - Christie B. Crowell, Grand Master, Brattleboro.

NORTH DAKOTA - Dr. J. S. Lamont, Dunseith.

WASHINGTON - Morton Gregory, Grand Master, Masonic Temple, Tacoma.
WISCONSIN - Fred L. Wright, Past Senior Grand Warden, Milwaukee.
WYOMING - Frank S. Knittle, Grand Master, Casper.

ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR, GENERAL GRAND CHAPTER - Mrs. Clara
Henrich, Most Worthy Grand Matron, Newport, Ky.

ROBERT J NEWTON Editor Publicity Director N. M, T. S. A. Las Cruces New
Mexico.

THE CHICAGO TUBERCULOSIS SANATORIA MEETING

THAT every Grand Lodge should take care of its own tuberculous Masons in its own
state and that the National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association should
attempt to provide relief and hospitalization for the sick and wandering brethren in the
Southwest, is the doctrine enunciated by the Board of Governors of the Sanatoria
Association at their meeting in Chicago on Nov. 19.

That the cause of Masonic tuberculosis relief is one that is of vital interest to the
leaders of the Craft was proved by the fact that there was a large attendance at the
meeting, although it was the fourth day of Masonic meetings for some of those
present. Some of them had sat through the Grand Masters' Conference on Tuesday,
two days of the Masonic Service Association meeting and remained for the one day
Sanatoria Board meeting.

Herbert B. Holt, Grand Master of New Mexico and President of the Sanatoria
Association, called the meeting to order and in his presidential address covered the
history of the movement, proof of the need for relief and some suggestions for action,
without making any definite recommendations.

Francis E. Lester, Past Grand Master of New Mexico and the Executive Secretary,
made a report of the organization and publicity work, and Alpheus A. Keen,
Secretary of the Association and Grand Secretary of New Mexico, presented the
financial report showing an expenditure of approximately $10,000 in more than one
year of operation.

Full and complete discussion followed during the morning session and was continued
in the afternoon. Out of this developed the plan of action. It was determined that the
National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association should continue its campaign
of education with the double purpose of informing the Craft as to the cause, nature
and prevention of tuberculosis and also to secure action by all Grand Lodges for relief
and hospitalization. Freemasons of every state will be urged to provide funds for
relief in homes, to care for sick Masons and members of their families in existing
tuberculosis sanatoria, and in some state to build a State Masonic Tuberculosis
Sanatorium, or to build a Masonic hospital building in connection with the State
Tuberculosis Sanatorium or some other tuberculosis institution.

Close cooperation between Grand Lodges and State and local Tuberculosis Societies,
hospitals, clinics an other agencies will be urged, to secure their services in the
examination and treatment of tuberculous Masons and families, the services of home
visiting nurses and the benefit of such cooperation in every line of anti-tuberculosis
activity by the organizations and institutions which specialize in this problem.

Examination and treatment of all members of the patients' families, especially the
children, to secure necessary care and treatment to guard against the development of
additional cases in the family, will also be urged.

The National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association will act as the agency to
provide home relief and hospital care for sick Masons who wander away from the
home jurisdiction seeking arrest of their disease in milder climates. The executive
officers of the Association were directed to secure all facts and figures as to the cost
of hospital construction and to present them to a later meeting.

An appeal for funds for immediate relief was authorized and will be made. All
Masonic bodies and Masons will be asked to contribute to the relief of those who
stand in the Northeast Comer of the Southwest, so that they may be cared for at once
Life saving work will be initiated with the first funds available. All contributions for
this purpose should be sent to Alpheus A. Keen, Secretary, Grand Secretary of New
Mexico at the Masonic Temple, Albuquerque, New Mexico.

A GIFT THAT COUNTS

Masonic veterans, inmates of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, at
Danville, 111., recently sent a contribution to the National Masonic Tuberculosis
Sanatoria Association for Masonic tubercular relief with the message, "May the
Heavenly Father bless you all."

It was a "widow's mite" in the sense !that it was not a large contribution, but coming
from these disabled soldiers and accompanied by such a message, it is one of the
greatest offerings yet made for the care of Masonic sick.

WHAT THE MODERN WOODMAN ORGANIZATION HAS DONE

The Woodmen's Sanatorium was established in 1909 twelve miles from Colorado
Springs for the treatment of tuberculous members, and since then over 6500 cases
have been cared for. In percentage of lives saved through arrest of tuberculosis, cured
cases and improvement in health of thousands of afflicted members, this sanatorium

holds and maintains the best record of any similar institution in the world. The cost of
maintaining this sanatorium is close to $40,000 a month.

FROM GEN. PERSHING

I hope you will pardon this very tardy acknowledgment of your note of July 20, with
reference to the national movement initiated by the Grand Lodge of New Mexico, A.
F. & A. M., for the relief and hospitalization of consumptive Masons. An extended
absence in Europe and numerous engagements since my return to the city have
resulted in an accumulation of correspondence, and I regret that your communication
has not received earlier attention.

The plan initiated by the Masons of New Mexico, so familiar with the urgent and
immediate need for action in behalf of their tuberculous brethren seeking the climatic
conditions of the Southwest, is one that should appeal to all Freemasons. I heartily
indorse this national movement to provide aid and comfort to the unfortunate
sufferers of this dread disease, and trust that your campaign may meet with complete
success.

(Signed) JOHN J. PERSHING.

LONG, HARD FIGHT, RESULT YET DOUBTFUL

Brother No. 109. Grand Lodge of Illinois. This brother tells his own story in three
letters. His story needs no comment. Note the dates of same:

"El Paso, Texas, May 16, 1922.

"An article in the Masonic Chronicler of Chicago, entitled 'The Grand Lodge of
Sorrow', has just come to my attention. I happen to be one of the large number of
Masons who have been initiated into this 'Lodge of Sorrow', not of my own free will
and accord. I have laid down my working tools nearly two years ago. For the first six
months I remained at home' but as it became evident that the fight to regain my health
would be a long one, it became necessary to break up our home, sell the furniture and
my good wife went to work, while I went to a hospital in Chicago.

"Here I remained six months, during which time I made no improvement whatever;
pneumothorax was tried, but on account of many adhesions, I could not take the
treatment. The doctor then told me I had just one more card to play, and that was a
change of climate. It was then that I was somewhat disappointed when I learned that
the great Masonic Fraternity had no sanatorium in the West or Southwest, where the
tubercular's progress is much faster and recovery more certain.

"I decided to come to El Paso. My condition made it necessary for me to have a
compartment so I could remain in bed all the way. The railroad fare and these
accommodations required more money than I could afford, so my brethren of
Bohemia Lodge, No. 943, furnished me the transportation.

"My last card so far seems to be a winning one, as I have made considerable
improvement in the eight months that I have been here. If I continue to improve, in
another year or so, I ought to have an arrested case, and once more be able to earn my
living.

"I am citing my case merely because I thi nk it is not very different from the cases of
thousands of other Masons similarly afflicted. I am sure if there was a Masonic
Tuberculosis Sanatorium in this part of the country, that the lives of a great many
Masons could be saved, and surely a live Mason is a greater asset to a community
than a dead one.

"As most cases of tuberculosis in the advanced stages require from one to three years
to recover and the expenses of sanatorium treatment amount to a thousand dollars or
more a year, it is safe to say that many a brother who is not financially able to meet
this expense is prevented from taking advantage of probably the one and only chance
of saving his life. Freedom from worry and a contented mind are essential to a
complete recovery.

"A Masonic Sanatorium where a sick brother could stay until he was able to go out
and earn a living, would assure these to him. There is no question as to the necessity
of such a sanatorium and a start should be made towards its establishment at the
earliest possible moment. Every Mason in the country should contribute towards its
support. It might be possible to purchase one of the many sanatoria now operating in
the Southwest, and the work of saving the lives of our brethren, who are sick and in
distress, could be begun in a short time.

"By all means, let us build a Temple for our 'Grand Lodge of Sorrow' where the
degrees of Improved Health will be conferred"

Following is a report of a public health worker who visited Mr. by request:

"Nov. 13, 1925.

"He seems to feel that his case has been at a standstill for some time and is afraid he
has even been slipping backward since September.

"As to finances, he says that they are at present nil, though he has spent $8,000 in
chasing the cure - $200 of that being supplied by his home lodge.

"He was very much interested in the present movement to establish a Sanatorium in
the West. ... You will, I am sure, receive further details from him. He has not had a
complete chest examination for a year."

"El Paso, Texas, Nov. 14, 1925.

"Will write just a few lines this time to inform you that Mrs. Thrasher called on me at
your request and asked me to write you.

"I am certainly glad that the movement started a few years ago to build a Masonic
Tuberculosis Sanatorium is still alive and gaining impetus. Since I wrote you my
letter on the Lodge of Sorrow in 1922, my condition has remained practically the
same. On the 8th of last September I had a hemorrhage from which, it seems, I cannot
fully recover, as I raise a little blood every few days. My sputum has been clear as
long as a week at a time, only to find a little blood in my sputum the next day and so
it has been since my hemorrhage.

"While my progress cannot be considered satisfactory it must be remembered that I
was a hopeless case to start with. A very far advanced case over five years ago, when
I had to stop working and it was very doubtful at that time whether I would live one
month. I am, however, still living, and while not able to follow any regular
occupation I have been at times fairly active. My diseased lung has been from the
start and is today, rotten, that is about the only word that will properly describe it. It
also has a large cavity near the apex.

"I am giving serious consideration to the thoro-coplasty operation, which probably
will be the only one thing left for me to do if I should not stop raising blood, or it may
even be worth trying if I do stop raising blood.

"After these five years of fighting, my financial condition is very nearly like that of a
bankrupt, but have been able to get by fairly well, when not confronted by many bills
for medical attention. Since my hemorrhage in September, have had to have more
medical attention than usual, and of course this proves a hardship to me.

"I will try to write an article in the near future and probably there will be some ideas
or suggestions in it that may be helpful to you in your efforts to make our dream
become a reality. If I can help the good work along in any way, let me know, I will
gladly do whatever I can."

"April 10, 1926, El Paso, Texas.

"I have started to write several times but have been so uncertain and undecided about
many things concerning my future, that I was at a loss as to what to write, and the
beginning of the letter was also its finish.

"I have been feeling unusually good since I wrote you last and have been taking some
exercise and am holding up well under it.

"Have been deliberating about the operation and decided to postpone it indefinitely.

"If I should continue to feel as well as now and improve, I may give up the idea, but
should there be another set-back like last September then I would go ahead with it.

"Whether this is a wise decision, I do not know, but I am not anxious to get cut up
unless it becomes absolutely necessary.

"I very much appreciate your offer to make arrangements with El Paso physicians to
take care of me, but I will give myself one more chance to get by without the
operation and should future developments make it necessary for me to resort to it, I
will at once communicate with you."

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The Precious Jewels

By BROS. A. L. KRESS AND R. J. MEEKREN

(Continued)

THE consideration of the tracing or trestle board, and its conjectural forerunner, the
square pavement, or floor prepared for making working drawings on, led us last
month rather far afield into a discussion of the technical methods of the Operative
Freemasons. Some reasons were given, and more might be found, to make us think
that the medieval Craftsman could not have had the profusion of plans that present
day builders are accustomed to because, for one reason, of the practical difficulty of
obtaining material to make them on, and that he would not have bothered with them
in any case because he did not need them. And, further than this, a Freemason, was
expected to be able to make whatever drawings he needed for himself to carry out his
own job. Some men would make them more fully and accurately than others. Some
doubtless could visualize their work without them. It would depend entirely on the
type of a man's mind and the extent of his experience. Besides this it must be
remembered that marking out the work on the rough stone is essentially the same
thing as making a full-size detail drawing. Under present day conditions the workman
in doing this merely copies the drawing made by someone else; then he was himself
the designer and artist, and was given as free a hand in the matter as his skill
warranted. No one yet had dreamed of a state of affairs where specialization should
produce men capable of doing only one thing or the other.

Now the simplest way of reproducing a drawing or a plan is by measured offsets from
a center line. To use a base line as well makes for greater convenience and accuracy.
This is the general method employed by all draughtsmen. Where however the design
is complex and irregular, such as figure groups, landscapes, maps and so on, the
method of squares is more convenient. Essentially it is the same thing in principle, the
whole area being measured out beforehand. In theory any set of crossing lines would
serve-straight, curved or crooked— and it would make no difference however
irregularly they were spaced; but for obvious practical reasons straight parallel lines
at equal intervals, intersecting at right angles, are most convenient in every way, as
we saw in the discussion of the diamond and equilateral triangle as the base of
measurement and design. That this convenience and practicability is a real one, and
does not depend on being a convention to which modern draughtsmen are accustomed
(as, for example, the system of coinage used in England, which only use and wont
could make endurable) is proved by the fact of its universality. It is not only
employed by draughtsmen, engineers and architects today, but it was used by ancient
Egyptian artists and painters. Bro. C. Purdon Clarke is authority for its use by Persian
builders in a very important paper on the subject read before Quatuor Coronati Lodge
in the early days of its existence, and he also reproduced architectural sketches drawn
on squared paper in 1541, and some plates from the 1621 edition of the vitruvius
showing this method exemplified for drawing the human figure and for setting out a
capital of the Ionic order.

The Persian technique, which is presumably still in use, is very interesting from our
point of view. The drawings having been made on squared paper are reproduced full
size on a specially prepared floor made of plaster of Paris carefully leveled. The point
is not specifically mentioned, but the modus operandi of the technique would seem
naturally to call for the marking out of this floor into squares corresponding to those
on the paper.

MEDIEVAL WORKING DRAWINGS

Let us now consider what the requirements of the medieval Freemason would have
been. Sketches, done more or less by freehand, would have been made by the Master

called in by those who were having the building erected— the "lords" spoken of in the
Old Charges— and agreed upon between them. There is no need to suppose they were
drawn strictly to scale, the trained hand and eye of the artist needs only the barest
minimum of measurement, and the Master Masons of Gothic work must have been as
much artists as craftsmen. The chief measurements of the building may have been
recorded in a memorandum or contract similar to the one quoted last month. Taking a
church as the most typical structure, after the chief dimensions of length, width and
height had been determined, there would be the question of the number of bays there
were to be in chancel and nave, whether there were to be towers, transepts, chapels
and so on; and the contract already quoted shows how other buildings might be
referred to as models in place of precise descriptions or drawings. In a large building,
where (as was done most frequently) part was to be completed first, it is probable a
plan would be drawn, but it would be more of the nature of a dimensioned diagram or
sketch, than a drawing done accurately to scale. Every bay in the structure was a
complete unit in itself, structurally speaking, the chevet, or head, at the east end,
whether apsidal or square (as was most usual in England) would need to be drawn
more fully, as also the west end with the facade and main entrances, and the ends of
the transepts if there were any. But all these parts and their arrangement were as well
known to all the masons as the parts of an old frame building were to the pioneer
carpenters who put them up. The difference between one church and another was in
its proportions. The relation of height to breadth and length, the size of the windows,
of the lower arches to those of the triforium and clerestory, and so on. In these there
was room for infinite variety, but the essential skeleton was always the same, that is,
for the same type of church. A small parish church with a timber roof would not have
the flying buttresses that were necessary to maintain the soaring vaults of a cathedral;
yet even here the flying buttress was only an elaboration of the simpler solid form
used in the smaller building.

Certain details, however, would need some elaboration in design as, for example, the
mouldings, one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Gothic style of building.
Let us suppose that an arch was to be constructed; it does not matter whether for door
or window or for one of the bays, all were designed on the same principles. Today it
would be very carefully drawn to scale, then some junior draughtsman in the
architect's office would make large size detail drawings for the different parts, and
from blue prints of these the stone cutters would work. All this needs a very high
degree of accuracy in the drawing because the workman follows it blindly, he has no
say in the design and no discretion. The medieval craftsman on the other hand was
told there was to be an arch, and how high and wide it was to be, and duly instructed
to "go to it," in whatever was the slang of the day.

CHARACTER OF GOTHIC ARCHES

Norman and Romanesque arches were semicircular, those of the Gothic style were
formed, as is well known, on the intersecting arcs of two circles. A great practical
advantage of the circle over any other curve is that every radius is normal to the
circumference, and the angle that the joint must make with the curve of the arch is
easily found by drawing any line from the center to the circumference. In Fig. 1 is
shown a diagram of a typical Gothic arch with a simple moulding of two "orders." It
will be seen that it really consists of two separate arches, the outer one deeper than the
inner. It was usual to cut each prominent member of the moulding on a separate range
of stones, so that an elaborate doorway might consist of three or four "shells" built
one outside the other. In the Norman arch these stones were often Cut square. An
example is to be found in THE BUILDER for August last year [page 231, No. 6. In
No. 5 the upper part of a moulded Gothic arch is shown], A first step toward
elaboration was to cut off the comers, thus making a chamber, such as is shown in the
two small windows of the north transept of St. Etienne at Beauvais, reproduced in the
Study Club article last December, page 378. A later and more elaborate form of
decoration is to be seen at page 366, but from the section shown at the right it can be
seen that the square outline of the stones was retained, the ornamentation being
chiefly on the face. The Gothic form was evolved quite naturally, out of its
foremnner, and needed very little change in methods of working, but the effect
produced was changed entirely from the step-like form of the earlier style to a splayed
form giving the general appearance of sloping outward, though basically it was
worked out of the square step form, the design requiring the minimum amount of
stone to be cut away, as may be seen by reference to the sections in Fig. 1. Another
economy in stone was the indifference to the size of the voussoirs, which were long
or short as the blocks happened to come, there being no attempt to make them equal,
or to use the joints as ornaments as was done in Renaissance work. The effect was all
gained by the rounds and hollows of the moulding.

It will be seen also that the voussoirs were interchangeable; it made no difference
how they came so long as together they filled up the space between the spring of the
arch at a and the keystone at d, as shown in the figure. It will be noticed also that the
centers, marked C, fall within the arch. If the arch were truly equilateral they would
be at the intersections of the arcs with the base line. In lancets they fall outside,

producing a very acute form. Whatever type it was, the width and the height would be
determined by the general design. When it came to laying them out, the centers could
be found by a simple geometrical construction. It would make no difference whether
working from inside or outside measurements. The height being set out on the line h
d, perpendicular to the base a b, and with a and d as centers two intersecting arcs are
drawn, shown in dotted lines, and the straight line joining the intersections will cut
the base line at the required point. It is very probable though that in many cases the
centers were found by simple guess and trial, which with a little practice can be very
easily done quite accurately enough.

Now from what has been said it can be seen that all that is necessary to work the
stones (aside from the moulding) is to get the proper curve and the correct angles, the
length of the stone being indifferent.

It would be worked first of all for the two faces, which would have to be parallel.
Then, if a templet were used, the curve and the line of the joint at each end could be
easily marked off. Such a templet is to be found among the Masonic emblems in the
window from Chartres Cathedral, a drawing of which was given in THE BUILDER
last January, and which, for convenience, is reproduced here [Fig. 2], There would
have to be one for each order or range of stones in the arch; and in order to make
them full sized arcs would have to be drawn on the floor long enough to get the curve.
A reference to Fig. 4 will make it clear. The stock, or butt, of the implement is
straight and coincides with the radius of the circle, the other limb is shaped to fit the
curve. The tool thus made would be used exactly like a square, both for marking out
and testing the angles of the joints. The dotted lines give other radii of the circle to
show the constancy of the angle.

In order to make it, only short arcs would need to be drawn, but in order to get the
length of the curves, the arch, or at least one side of it, would have to be drawn in full.
The length of course could be calculated, but it is doubtful if there were any
mathematicians in the Middle Ages able to do so; it is quite certain in any case that
the simplest and most direct way is the graphic method of drawing the full arc and
taking measurements from it.

THE COMMON SQUARE

While we are on the subject of implements it may be remarked incidentally that the
squares, like the levels and plumb rules used by the medieval craftsmen, were
undoubtedly made of wood. There is a widespread theory among Freemasons, in
America at least, that there is a difference between the mason's and the carpenter's
squares. The former is supposed to have limbs of equal length, the latter to be unequal
and to be graduated in inches and fractions of inches. The currency of this hypothesis
appears to be chiefly due to the authority of Mackey, who, in his Encyclopedia, says
under this head:

The French Masons have almost universally given it [the Square] one leg longer than
the other, thus making it a carpenter's square. The American Masons, following the
incorrect delineations of Jeremy L. Cross, have, while generally preserving the
equality of length in the legs, unnecessarily marked its surface with inches, thus
making it an instrument for measuring length and breadth, which it is not. It is simply
the trying: square of a stone-mason.

We do not know if this opinion was original with Mackey or not; it is quite likely it
was not, but the facts do not agree with it at all. At the present time joiners use a try-
square, with a steel blade and a wooden stock. Carpenters use a steel square,
graduated, the long arm being two feet long, the shorter twelve inches. Precisely the
same square is used by stonecutters and other workmen, blacksmiths for instance. It is
peculiarly an American tool. In Europe the old home-made wooden squares are still
in use both by carpenters and masons, and are exactly like those we find in medieval
representations, a number of examples of which have appeared in THE BUILDER, as
at pages 229 and 230 last year, and page 24 in the present volume. These are merely
samples, in fact we do not recall any old representation of mason's tools in which the
limbs of the square are shown of equal length. In many cases the stock is very short in
comparison to the length of the blade. There is a good reason for this in a wooden
implement. The shorter the stock the less strain there is on the joint, and the less
likely is it to be knocked out of truth by an unlucky fall or accidental blow. The
French masons therefore have adhered faithfully to the original tradition in this. But
so also did the English, throughout the eighteenth century at least. The squares shown
at pages 312 and 313 last month are examples of many that might easily be found.

Probably the real reason for making the square equal limbed in Masonic designs and
jewels was merely a desire for symmetry. The actual shape of the working tool would
not balance well as a collar jewel, nor does it combine so well with the compasses. It
is another case of an imaginary technicality, which has not even the excuse of having
some special symbolism attached to it.

NOTES

1. The reference is given in Gould's Concise History, p. 226 it is given also in the
larger work.

2. What may be intended for a template for mouldings more on the principle of a T
square, is to be found in the curious engraving from a 1547 edition of vitruvius
reproduced in THE BUILDER for December, 1924, page 384. It is on the left
immediately above a common square and just under a narrow bladed saw. But the
curves shown are not those of Gothic mouldings, which however would hardly be
expected in the sixteenth century.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Under what conditions did the round arch develop into -the pointed form? Was it
borrowed from the Saracens or developed independently ?

2. Could any symbolic teaching be drawn from carvings and mouldings either in
contrast, or additional to that of square work ?

3. Could any significance be attached to the form of the mason's square ?

THE WOMEN ARE INTERESTED

Women are quick to realize that hospitalization of consumptive Masons will
safeguard wives and children from infection and may save Masonic fathers to resume
the task of family support. They want to help save Masonic homes from ship-wreck.

The Most Worthy Grand Matron of the General Grand Chapter of the Order of the
Eastern Star, Mrs. Clara Henrich, of Newport, Ky., is ready to lend the services of her
organization to the National Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatoria Association. She writes:

"I will be only too glad to add a leaflet in my many letters and commend you for your
wonderful work."

Mrs. Minnie Evans Keyes, Grand Secretary, writes:

"I can think of no greater plan to promote than the one you are seeking to put through
in the hospitalization of the Master Masons who seek the healing qualities of your
climate."

The Most Worthy Grand Matron has written the Grand Matrons of every state, urging
their co-operation with the Grand Masters in every way they may be permitted to
serve in this movement. As a further evidence of her interest and desire to help, the
Most Worthy Grand Matron has accepted a place on the National Board of Governors
of the Sanatoria Association.

o

"HOW SOON CAN I BE GIVEN TREATMENT?"

Masons suffering from tuberculosis are beginning to ask when they can be cared for
in the Masonic Tuberculosis Sanatorium which has been the subject of discussion for
over four years. Many have died while Masonic bodies talked about doing something.
Many more will doubtless die before something is actually done. One of them writes:

"I have just learned that there may be some chance of my receiving treatment - 1 have
just recently had a set-back, having a light hemorrhage and feel that it is absolutely
necessary to enter some institution as soon as possible. I am no longer able financially
to take care of myself, having been sick for quite a while, and the members of my
lodge have been very nice to me. They took care of me in a convalescent home here
in El Paso for two months, March and April. During that time I made such good
improvement I tried to go back to work, but had to go back East to find work. Went
back and rested a month and started to work and only worked ten days and started a
hemorrhage. The doctor there advised me to return at once to this country and go into
a hospital as soon as possible. I must do something. I am running very short of funds
and realize that I must save as much time as possible. How soon can I be given
consideration, or treatment, should my lodge sanction or recommend same?"

— o —

THE LIBRARY

THE LIFE OF HENRY HOWARD MOLYNEUX HERBERT, FOURTH EARL OF
CARNARVON, 1831-1890. By the Rt. Hon. Sir Arthur Hardinge. Edited by

Elizabeth, Countess of Carnarvon. Published by the Oxford Press. May be purchased
through the Book Department of the National Masonic Research Society, 1950
Railway Exchange, St. Louis, Mo. Three vols., cloth, illustrated, maps, tables of
contents, index. 391, 400 and 383 pages. Price, postpaid, $21.75.

INTERESTING to the general reader from the character of the statesman whose
career it records and the importance of the movements and events with which it deals,
Sir Arthur Hardinge's Life of the Fourth Earl of Carnarvon should have a special
appeal to the Mason. "Freemasonry," as the biographer reminds us, "attracted Lord
Carnarvon - its ancient rites, its mystical significance, its world- wide activities and
brotherhood appealed to him, and the condition in which he actually found Grand
Lodge, its want of life and liberty, spurred him to a vehement effort at reform."
Freemasons the world over will naturally be interested in the man who secured "the
supremacy of Grand Lodge as against the crippling decisions of the Grand Master and
the Dais or Board," in England; who did much to foster the development of Masonry
in the Overseas Dominions of the British Empire; and who, as Pro-Grand Master, was
called upon to deal with the critical situations arising from the elimination from its
principles of belief in God and the immortality of the soul by the Grand Orient of
France in 1877 and the condemnation of Freemasonry by the encyclical of Leo XIII
in 1884.

Sprung from a family of which Isaak Walton had written in the 17th century that it
was "blessed with men of remarkable wisdom, and a willingness to serve their
country, and indeed to do good to all mankind," Lord Carnarvon was naturally led to
enter political life and devote himself to the public service; and the times in which he
lived afforded a wonderful field for the exercise of his natural talents and the display
of the family characteristics. There is a tendency to regard the latter half of the 19th
century as a somewhat drab and uninteresting page in the record of history; but the
period which witnessed the consolidation of the United States by the War of North
and South, the creation of the Kingdom of Italy and the German Empire, the
completion of English democracy, the rise to nationhood of the Overseas Dominions
of the British Empire, and the spread of Occidental ideas and interests over the
surface of the globe, was undoubtedly one of the most striking and important epochs
in human development. In all these movements Lord Carnarvon was keenly
interested, and in many of them he played an important, often a determinative, part.
Sir Arthur Hardinge leads us behind the scenes and enables us to appreciate the

springs of action, to gather the impression made by leading personalities on one of the
foremost actors in the drama, and feel the actual movement of the times.

The real charm of the book lies, however, in the gradual unfolding, as his life-story is
told, of the character of its hero. Sir Arthur wisely refrains from attempting any set
character sketch, and allows us to form our own picture of the man from the record of
his interests and activities. This is the way in which we form our impressions of the
men and women we meet in actual life, and with whom we proceed from mere
acquaintance to real appreciation, intimacy, and friendship; and its employment by
the biographer transforms his subject from a figure painted on canvas to a living,
breathing man, and enables us to grasp the nobility and charm of his personality in a
way we should never do from a string of adjectival platitudes. The wide range of Lord
Carnarvon's interests, from the price of sheep to the confederation of Canada and
from the translation of Homer to the humanitarian regulation of vivisection, the
courtesy and tact which made such a deep impression alike on colonial statesmen and
Irish Home-Rulers, his devotion to duty and sturdy independence of thought and
action, combined with his high standard of personal and political honor to form a
singularly complete and well-rounded character. Indeed, as we read steadily through
the three blue-clad volumes, we feel in contact with an almost superhuman perfection,
and look for the glitter of a halo around the noble earl's head, or begin to suspect that
Sir Arthur has fallen a victim to that lues Boswelliana described in Macaulay's Essay
on Chatham. But the last chapter, devoted to social life, in which we see Lord
Carnarvon throwing off the cares of office and delighting in a well-planned and
executed practical joke, restores the human touch, and completes the charm of the
character.

That Freemasonry should have appealed so strongly to a man of this stamp, and that
he should have been led to devote so much of the scanty leisure of an extraordinarily
busy life to Masonic activities and the furtherance of Masonic interests, is another, if
unnecessary, testimonial to the appeal of the Ancient Craft

DEBITS AND CREDITS. By Rudyard Kipling. Published by Doubleday Page & Co.
May be purchased through the Book Department of the National Masonic Research
Society, 1950 Railway Exchange Bldg., St. Louis, Mo. Cloth, table of cotents, 354
pages. Price, postpaid, $2.15.

T must be confessed that the reviewer came to this latest volume of Bro. Kipling's
with something like apprehension. He had seen sundry rather unfavorable notices
here and there, both out of and within the circle of the Craft, and all seemed to
complain of a lamentable falling away and loss of power. One critic excuses it
definitely on the ground that he is growing old, while others seem to have this idea at
the back of their minds. Frankly, on reading the book itself-some of the stories are
already well known - there was a feeling of wonder bow these writers came to their
conclusions. Age as a rule, an almost universal rule, makes no difference in literary
work. An old man sees things differently from a younger man, some things seem
smaller to him, others greater - the surface becomes less important. But Kipling, as
writers go, is not old.

There is only one story that we would be inclined to judge as not being quite so good,
and that suffers from the excellencies that have gone before. The United Idolaters,
which tells us more of Stalky and the "egregious Beetle." It seems as if this, and
possibly The Propagation of Knowledge, suffer from a didactic aim. This however is
only impression as the stories are too skillfully told to let one be sure, and on second
reading one is even less so than at first.

Half of the stories are more or less connected with the war; some immediately, as the
Sea Constables and The Janeites, others less directly. That this should be so was only
to be expected, and not really in any way to be regretted. It would have been
unnatural had they not been, written as most of them were either during or soon after.
Those who are still war-sick will not like them, but a subjective feeling of that kind
does not affect their merit. It was very long ago that the writer came to the conclusion
that there was no learning to like Kipling's work, as is possible with other writers who
in the first place repel. One either likes him - or dislikes him at the first introduction
and usually very decidedly. Unfortunately many have pretended they like him, or at
least are interested, when they are in the other class; and many judge him on very
slight acquaintance. Above all things, to read him one must not fear in any way the

naked facts of life, those which convention hides so carefully that many people hate
to acknowledge their existence.

The volume has little concerning America, and that little will doubtless be deemed
too much by American readers. The Vine-yard has been published and criticised in
the newspapers and enough said about it to make it unnecessary to say more here. The
English language is the inheritance of the United States, and it seems as if, quite
naturally (though of course illogically), everyone who writes English should write
from the American standpoint; is a sort of traitor and renegade if 'he does not. Had he
been a Frenchman or a Spaniard no one in this country would expect him to look at
things otherwise than from his own national standpoint, it would be allowed for. But
being an Englishman he sees things as an Englishman; and as he himself said years
ago, it is in some ways harder for the people of the two countries to understand each
other precisely because, speaking a common language, they expect too much of each
other. And the poem We and They puts the matter into a nutshell, even where the
differences are not so great as those enumerated. As the last stanza says:

All good people agree,

And all good people say,

All nice people, like Us, are We
And everyone else is They:

But if you cross over the sea,

Instead of over the way

You may end by (think of it!) looking on We

As only a sort of They.

Having more or less disposed of this we may pass on. The wonderful story, In the
Interests of the Brethren, is included. It is a wartime story, but has little to do with the
war and a good deal with Masonry. We understand that official opinion in England

would have been decidedly against any such extension of lodge activities as is there
suggested, though to the ignorance of the unofficial mind it is not easy to see any real
objection. Three other stories are connected with this dream lodge, Faith and Works,
No. 5837, but only as affording a jumping-off place for them. One, The Janeites,
which is about the war, tells us of a new and wonderful secret society that will be
incomprehensible to the uninitiated, those who know not Jane. To those who do
nothing more need be said, there is only one Jane, and they will not wonder why the
Sister in charge said she was going to get Humberstall on the hospital train, even if
she had to kill a Brigadier to make room for him.

"Banquet Night" is a purely Masonic Poem; it is a poem and it is Masonic, a
combination which, judging by its extreme scarcity, is a most difficult
accomplishment. In this we can only say that the hand of the master has lost none of
its cunning. We quote the first and last stanzas:

"Once in so often," King Solomon said,
Watching his quarrymen drill the stone,

"We will club our garlic and wine and bread,
And banquet together beneath my Throne.
And all the Brethren shall come to that mess
As Fellow-Craftsmen-no more and no less.

So it was ordered, and so it was done,

And the hewers of wood and the Masons of Mark,
With foc'sle hands of the Sidon run

And Navy Lords from the Royal Ark,

Came and sat down and were merry at mess
As Fellow-Craftsmen-no more and no less.

The Quarries are hotter than Hiram's forge,
No one is safe from the dog-whips' reach.
It's mostly snowing up Lebanon gorge,
And it's always blowing off Joppa beach;
But once in so often, the messenger brings
Solomon's mandate: "Forget these things!
Brother to Beggars and Fellow to Kings,
Companion of Princes-forget these things!
Fellow-Craftsman, forget these things!"

A volume could easily be collected of the stories and poems from Kipling's different
works that have a Masonic connection. In fact it might be difficult to know what to
leave out, for hidden allusions are to be found in many places, some where they seem
to have almost entirely escaped notice.

One marked feature of Kipling's art, due doubtless to his type of mind, is his power of
vividly personifying things, and a man who can make a ship or an engine an
individuality can make animals alive. The Bull That Thought is every bit as good as
the Maltese Cat and Rikki Tikki, and for those who know the latter no more need be
said. In The Eye of Allah the past has been brought to light even as it was in Puck of
Pook's Hill,, though the tale is not so pleasant. But many of his stories have been
unpleasant, some there are that one would not read a second time-willingly, The
Children of the Zodiac for one, the Head' of the District for another-to each his own
perhaps. There is. nothing quite like that in these last tales, it would seem as if they

were inspired with a deeper insight, a larger hope, a realization that if the world
passes and the glory thereof it does not matter so much. Look well to the end. The
end of the last tale is a wonderful thing, though one critic at least seems to have
missed the point of what went before.

When Helen left the cemetery she turned for a last look. In the distance she saw the
man bending over his young plants; and she went away, supposing him to be the
gardener.

So did Mary Magdalene.

* * *

THE MAN NOBODY KNOWS. By Bruce Barton. Published by the Bobbs-Merrill
Co., Indianapolis. Cloth, table of contents, 220 pages. Price, postpaid, $2.65.

THE BOOK NOBODY KNOWS. By Bruce Barton. Published by the Bobbs-Merrill
Co., Indianapolis. May be purchased through the Book Department of the National
Masonic Research Society, 1950 Railway Exchange, St. Louis, Mo. Cloth, table of
contents. Price, postpaid, $2.65.

TO call an author popular in this day of commercial literature and best sellers seems
to imply a certain depreciation of his effort. It is unfortunate, but when art becomes
art for money's sake, and success is judged solely upon the basis of copies sold, it is
no wonder that an author of real merit dislikes to be termed popular. The true
meaning of the term should carry with it, nothing more than a distinction between
words intended for the scholar and those for the general reader. It is with some
hesitation that the term is applied to Bruce Barton. His literary output is not of the
prolific type which characterizes the money-maker writer. The reviewer must plead
ignorance of Barton's work in general, in fact it must be admitted that he has read no

more than some of the current magazine interviews which have added so much to his
position in the literary field. But on the basis of this and the two books herein
reviewed it can be said that Barton does not belong to the class to which the term
popular would be applied in a depreciatory sense. That he is popular cannot be
denied, his work has a widespread appeal, though it possesses literary merit which
lifts him above, the average author in the best seller class.

In reviewing books of the type of The Man Nobody Knows and The Book Nobody
Knows, it is very difficult to avoid entering into the field of religious controversy.
Either the reader approves, in which case he allies himself with the so-called
Modernists, or he must disapprove and join the Fundamentalists. In either case he at
once places himself in a position exposed to the missiles of the opposing faction. It is
only by ignoring one group that one can hope to accomplish anything. And at this
point it may as well be said that those who tend to traditional views had better refrain
from reading either of these books unless they are willing to have their orthodoxy
severely criticised. So far as the reviewer is concerned he does not wish to enter into
any controversy on religion, and his opinions of the author's treatment are advanced
merely as his opinions and in no wise as a statement of his religious tendencies. Such
a warning, it seems, should not be necessary, but experience has taught that an
inadvertent statement often rouses the ire of those on the other side of the question.

With this brief preamble let us view Jesus of Nazareth as Bruce Barton presents him,
perhaps it would be better to say, as the reviewer sees him through Barton's pages. It
is an original and stimulating picture that has been given us. Barton's Jesus is not the
inaccessible character hedged in by the terrors of divinity, and so far beyond the
average man 'chat by no effort can he hope to approach his level, but rather an
intensely human and lovable personality, who, if he lived in the world today, would
find his name on the calling list of each of us. If we needed him we might even call
on him to complete our Sunday morning foursome. It would not be more shocking
than his eating on fast days was to the Pharisees, or defending his disciples in
plucking com on the Sabbath.

This is rather a different picture from that many of us received from kindly old ladies
who were constantly looking for spectacles and telling us that we must love Jesus, all
the while they were putting him in such a disagreeable light that we had no desire to

know anything about him. Sunday was his day, and a deadly dull one. If rough and
tumble games were indulged in, we belonged to the race of lost souls; Jesus wouldn't
love us and we were headed for perdition by the most direct route. What healthy
youngster could possibly like or be interested in such a person? No wonder our ideas
of religion were of something to be avoided rather than to be sought. This is not
Barton's Jesus, and it is not the Jesus that religion today is trying to recover. Surely
the God of us all, the Father of the human race, was not such a stickler for "piosity"
that his children could not enjoy themselves in harmless pastimes, even on Sunday. It
is said that God himself felt the need of rest, hence the consecration of the seventh
day of the week. If our rest is made better by the enjoyment of life, then 'chat must be
the way in which he intended us to make use of it. Certainly the God, whom Christ
called his and our Father, had no intention of making a painful duty of our respect and
worship of Him. Yet too often religion amounts to more than this. The old picture of
Christ is, to a large extent, responsible for this attitude. No human being, man,
woman or child, has any use for such an effeminate un-human figure as many
religious teachers have made of Christ. If the idea can once be conveyed to the.
people in general that Jesus was an intensely interesting character, thoroughly human
whatever more he might be; if from the pulpits of our churches such a character as
The Man Nobody Knows were to be set forth, and if our laymen would read the Bible
as they read a historical novel, a tale of adventure, or a story of success, then there
would be created a solid background against which to set the ethical teachings of the
Carpenter of Nazareth.

It is just such a foundation as this that Barton gives us. This is no kindergarten story,
but a tale written for the man who has never received a really human conception of
the Founder of Christianity. It does more than make religion a beautiful theory, it
makes Christianity an intensely interesting practice, and pictures Christ as a good, all-
around fellow, successful, sociable, a lover of the innocent pleasures of life; the kind
of a man you want for a friend.

Everyone is interested in reading about the success of others. The adventures of the
poor boy who arose to a position of prominence in the affairs of the world will always
find readers. But these ordinary successes often leave nothing behind them. In the life
of Jesus we have one of the most thrilling of successes, one which death saw only in
its beginning. We see a great executive starting out as a poor lad, spending his early
years in a carpenter shop in a small village of Galilee. At his death we see a small
organization of eleven men who had been picked from lowly stations in life and who

came to be the leaders in an organization embracing half a billion people. Surely no
modern enterprise can boast of such a record. This man should be invited to every
business conference. True it is that great undertakings have been launched without his
aid, but modem business is being built more and more along the lines of his
organization. Service is coming to be the keynote of commerce as it was of Christ's
teachings.

Such is the work-a-day feature of Christianity; but we all like to play. There is no
more popular place for recreation than the great out-of-doors. Jesus, according to the
old idea of him had no place therein; he was a weakling, a fine companion such a man
would make on a camping trip! But he could teach you some things about the
camping life that you don't know. There is little said about such things in the Gospel,
but can one imagine a man who for three years tramped over the territory surrounding
Jerusalem knowing nothing about outdoor life? I was nothing unusual for him to
spend the night under the stars. He must have been tanned like the old-time cowboy
and had muscles like iron. This man was -no weakling.

But there are seasons of the year in most countries where out-of-door activities are
reduced to a minimum, and indoor social gatherings are the order of the day. Who
would invite his childhood Jesus to such a function? Yet the man was invited to
attend a bridal party, and when the wine ran out, instead of letting the people go home
dissatisfied, he changed the water to wine, the first of his miracles. Doubt the miracle
if you like, it is sufficient for our purpose that he was invited to the hilarious wedding
party, and Oriental weddings are very hilarious, and instead of putting a damper on
the amusement, he helped it along. There was hardly a house in which he was not a
welcome guest. He numbered among his friends not only those of high social
standing, but the publicans and sinners as well. He must have loved companionship,
and if invited to a modern social function doubtless he would be the "life of the
party."

Following Barton from The Man Nobody Knows to The Book Nobody Knows is a
natural transition. The nature of the author's treatment of the Bible as a whole is not
essentially different from that of the period of Jesus.

The Bible is actually the world's best seller. The demand is continuous and an
enormous number of copies are sold each year. Even so, there are very many people
who really know little or nothing of what it contains. As an illustration, Barton cites
the following illuminating incident:

Not long ago I met a man who wanted to know which of the Old Testament books
contained the verse: "Thus saith the Lord, Every tub shall stand upon its own
bottom."

If we see the Bible as Barton tries to make us to see it, as containing an outline of
history, a collection of wisdom, literature and numerous biographies, all of which are
as interesting and as readable as any modern work. Some portions are, of course, dull
enough, but they are of little value, and one can skip them without losing much.

There is nothing unusual in a man's reading a history of Europe or America, and no
one thinks him foolish for so doing. Why should the attitude be different because he
chooses to read a history of the Jews? Were it Klausner's History of Israel, no one
would comment, but because it happens that one interested in the Jews chooses to
read the historical book of the Bible there is an inclination among many men to
believe him either a religious fanatic, or else that something is amiss in his general
makeup.

Maybe you are not interested in history. Philosophy may be more to your liking. In
this event, you can find much to entertain in Proverbs, Psalms and the Prophets. This
material is not the hashed over conclusions of pseudo-scholars, but the source
material upon which you can form your own conclusions unhampered by the fetters
of scientific minds. A philosophy of life can be gleamed from its pages, and it will
either be a philosophy based entirely on what you find therein, or one modified
according to your own interpretations. In either case you are ahead of the game for
the reading.

We all like biographies of great men, and possibly you may prefer such reading to all
others. There is no better place to find it than between the covers of The Book
Nobody Knows. The life of Christ, Solomon, David, Noah, Adam, the prophets and
countless others-a great mass of material for your entertainment, and he who reads
may learn.

— o —

THE QUESTION BOX and CORRESPONDENCE

THE YOUNG MAN WITH GREAT POSSESSIONS

In the May issue, page 149, you say, "the young man who came by night to Jesus did
not like the advice to sell all he had and give to the poor; neither did he understand
how he could be bom again."

This is decidedly interesting to me.

Must I sell all that I have and give it to the poor in order to be "born again"? I have
heard that phrase before: is that what it means? I wish that you would write me fully
as to what being "bom again" means and what it involves. Since we are told that we
are ALL the children of God, where is there any need for being born again, and
besides, how can a man be born again when he is old?

A young man, who had read and traveled extensively, told me that Adam had two
sons, and these two sons represented two great religious truths. The oldest son was
called Cain (or Cane) and he was (religiously) the father of Freemasonry because he
was the first city-builder, and moreover of his seed there came the Masonic Jubal and

Tubal-cain as mentioned in the lodge lectures. Moreover, this young man said that
this Cain's brother represented the great religious truth of the Christians and that only
by a blood sacrifice which he brought could a person become a Christian and that
therefore the Freemasons are not advocates of that great religious truth.

Will you please advise as to the reliability of this man's information? Where can I
find the matter in detail from some one of our reliable scholars? I am very much
interested in the “mysteries."

Now I have asked you enough to cause you to write a book, I will close for the
present, thanking you for the courtesy of a reply to my many tedious questions.

L. B. M., California.

In one respect we fully agree with our correspondent, to fully discuss the questions he
raises would make a book.

To take the last first; a reference to the Bible (Gen. IV, 25) will show that Adam is
said to have had three sons, and the geneological line in which the chief interest
centers is the third one, Seth. He was the ancestor of Noah. At its face value we
would have to conclude from the narrative that all the descendants of Cain perished in
the deluge. It is possible that the informant of whom our correspondent speaks had
some acquaintance with the "Legend of the Craft" as related in the old charges in
which the three children of the earlier Lamech are mentioned, and that he combined
this with the old allegorical interpretation of Abel as a “type" of Christ, just as the
flood and the Ark, and the passage of the Red Sea were taken as types of baptism. But
that such ideas as this had anything to do with the relationship of Freemasonry to
religion is not borne out by the facts. It comes into the light of history as a distinctly
Christian institution. It remains a Christian institution in Northern Europe. It has in
different countries moved a greater or less distance along the path of removing all
qualifications based on religious doctrine. [There is much information on this subject
in the Meaning of Masonry by Wilmshurst, The Men's House by Newton, Great

Teachings of Masonry by Haywood, Speculative Masonry by MacBride, and Builders
of Man by Gibson.]

In regard to the first question, it may be better to refer to the passages alluded to, they
were not quoted. The first three gospels tell us of a man who had great possessions,
Luke tells us he was a ruler, and asked the Lord what he had to do to be saved; he
claimed to have kept all the commandments from his youth up, and so, he was told to
sell all he had and give it to the poor. It has generally been supposed that this was the
same Nicodemus who, according to John, came and was told that be must be bom
again to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It would seem therefore that giving away all
one has and being bom again are not contingent on each other necessarily.

Nicodemus seems to have understood the phrase literally, but it is obvious that what
Jesus meant was an initiation (in the general sense) into a new life, and in the early
church this initiation was supposed to be fulfilled in baptism. And the church put a
very exclusive construction on this-only those who had been baptized could be
regarded as "children of God." And if the whole passage where this phrase occurs
(Gal. Ill, 26) is taken as a whole, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Paul taught
the same thing. Only those who had voluntarily accepted the faith and had received
the initiation of baptism were of the children of God. The rest of mankind were
children of wrath, of disobedience and not "heirs of the kingdom."

* * *

MORGAN AND THE OBLIGATION

In THE BUILDER of November, 1924, there is a very interesting account of the
Morgan Affair in Western New York in 1826. 1 was born in 1950, not far from
Canandaigua, and in my younger days heard a great deal about the "Morgan Killers."
Now it so happens that I am very intimately acquainted with a prominent Mason who
is a grandson of one of the two men who made the final disposal of Mr. Morgan in
1826; from him I learned the details of the whole affair as he got them from his father

and grandfather. The kidnappers were Canadians and the place where they lived can
be seen from near Bock's Monument.

Was there ever a time in America when Masons were obligated by their oaths to
inflict a penalty on those who betrayed their secrets as was alleged in the ease of
William Morgan in 1826 ?

H. G. HUBBARD, Pennsylvania.

The story traditional in your family is certainly very interesting, though it is not easy
to reconcile it with the few definite facts that have been fully ascertained. Publicly the
faithful brethren of the, period seem to have generally insisted that Morgan was taken
to Canada, and that he went thence on his own motion to parts unknown. Privately,
many Masons undoubtedly believed or suspected that he had been made away with.
Whether they actually knew more than the general public seems very doubtful,
excepting, of course, the very few individuals who were actively concerned in the
affair.

The question you raise is one that can be emphatically answered in the negative.
Never, in any country, has any Masonic promise or obligation been demanded of
initiates to take any action, individually or collectively, in such a case; not even the
perfectly proper and lawful penalty of suspending or expelling an unworthy member.
There has been apparently a continuous evolution in this matter of Masonic penalty.
Before the modern period there was apparently a tradition of a death penalty for the
revelation of Masonic secrets. The newly made Masons were probably informed of
this, though there is absolutely nothing either in the Old Charges and regulations on
the subject. In the seventeenth century and up to the Grand Lodge period this had
most likely become only a ritual method of emphasizing the binding character of the
oath sworn by the initiate. In the modified and revised forms of a later date, after
1723 perhaps, this was made explicit by adding it to the formal promise made by the
candidate, so that instead of being informed that it was a traditional law, he
imprecated the penalty upon himself, saying, in effect, "rather than do this I would
suffer that," or, "Should I do this I deserve that." But this compromise between the

conservative desire to retain an ancient form, that was also felt to be symbolic, has
undergone still further modifications. In many places, after reciting the traditional
penalty, some such clause as this is added: "Or the equally effective one of incurring
the contempt and detestation of all honorable men." And in some European rituals the
process has gone further still and the traditional clause has been entirely eliminated.

In the period between 1730 and the end of the eighteenth century another step in this
evolution was taken, in the addition of a general statement that the promise required
contained nothing contrary to religion, morality or statute law. After the anti-Masonic
excitement in this country this statement was minutely particularized and put in the
form of a solemn declaration or pledge to the candidate, which in legal effect makes
any possible interpretation of the promise null and void that could be considered
illegal, or that was against the individual's conscience, while the forms of promise
have also been modified to absolutely rule out the possibility of any such
interpretation.

However, if there was any truth at all in the respective "relations" of Edward Giddins
and Samuel D. Greene, both of whom by their own account were in the thick of the
trouble, we might judge that a number, and possibly many, of the simple-minded and
comparatively uneducated Masons of Western New York in 1826 did suppose, in
spite of the intentions of those who had revised the rituals, understand that they were
bound to assist in punishing traitors. Of course this was the very point that the anti-
Masons sought to make, and these two men are by no means reliable witnesses; but
even if it were so it was not the fault of the fraternity but the ignorance of individuals
that was to blame.

* * *

THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN AT JERUSALEM

I have recently seen a paragraph in a Masonic magazine, under the heading "English
Mason's Acquire Old Jerusalem Site," which states that the English Grand Priory of

the Knights of St. John have bought a part of the 'historic site connected with their
order in Jerusalem. I should like to know more about this.

J. S. L., Connecticut.

The statement is, we believe, quite correct, but then the heading appears to be an
error. The close connection now existing between the modem Masonic Order of
Templars and Knights of Malta, has led to quite general misconceptions on the
subject. The connection, by the way, is historically rather ridiculous as the two Orders
were bitter enemies, and their intestine feuds had much to do with the loss of
Palestine to the Saracens.

It must be remembered that the Order of St. John, commonly called Hospitallers and
later first Knights and Rhodes' and then Knights of Malta, continued their existence
all through the Middle Ages down to the present time. Much of the property of the
suppressed Templar Order was transferred to them.

The Hospitallers were organized by Languages-each Language had its own
headquarters, but the general government was in the Grand Master, who resided at
Malta, from the time the Turks drove the Knights out of Rhodes till Napoleon took
the Island from them, after which they retired to Trieste where they still exist.

At the Reformation the English "Language" broke away from the main body and its
members adhered to the Church of England. They have had a continuous separate
existence since then. They retain all their original exclusive and aristocratic -features,
and they also carry out their original object of aiding and assisting the sick through
hospitals. They have never had the remotest connection with Freemasonry, except the
borrowing of their name by the latter.

The Order last year made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, at which time we believe the
purchase referred to was made. A very interesting account of the pilgrimage has
recently been published.

* * *

THE COMPASSES

Can you give me any information relative to the symbolism ,of the Compasses? It is
said that they belong to the Grand Master. Is there any reason for this statement?

W. N. Tucker, Saskatchewan.

If any attempt were made to furnish the details of all theories relative to the
significance of the compasses, one would soon find himself the author of a volume of
unusual size. In the study of symbolism individual thought plays a most important
part. It is impossible to say that any interpretation is the correct one and all others are
wrong. Every one is privileged to draw his own conclusions, and one theory is just as
correct as -another. One explanation that has received widespread recognition is that
the compasses represent the God in man. The evolution of this idea is a process which
if we endeavor to trace its beginning takes us back to the times of the ancients. Early
in the development of religion the sun was represented by a circle. At a later stage
arcs came to represent the planets and their paths. A semicircle was frequently used as
a symbol of the celestial hemisphere. Because the compasses were the only
instruments which would inscribe circular lines they gradually assumed the
symbolism of the results of their work, in much the same way that the square came to
be a symbol of earthly things. In the course of religious evolution the heavens came to
be looked upon as the source of good and consequently this idea was incorporated in
the significance of the compasses. As a consequence the compasses have come to
represent those heavenly qualifications which are interpreted as the characteristics of
a really good man.

These seems to be a general acceptance of the compasses as the property of the Grand
Master, but no reason is generally accepted for this practice. A possible explanation
would be that the compasses are primarily an instrument of design and would not be
used in the practical work of quarrying and squaring stones, nor in setting them.

These are the duties of the Craft in general. Designing belongs only to those who
have attained proficiency in the other branches of the trade and who have come to be
called Masters. It would follow that the Grand Master, as chief architect and designer,
would have his office designated by that instrument which was particularly suited to
his occupation.

E. E. T.

* * *

THE POSITION OF THE LESSER LIGHTS

Noticing that the Grand Jurisdiction of Oklahoma placed their Lesser Lights in the
same position as Wyoming, I wrote to the Grand Secretary who, in turn, referred me
to you.

Please give me, if you can, some reference as to which is the proper way to place the
lights.

J. M. LOWNDES, Wyoming.

The question raised by Bro. Lowndes is of no little interest. There are several variant
methods which have been in use in various sections and all of which seem to be
equally "proper."

In England it is generally conceded that the proper distribution is one at the station of
each of the principal officers. In some American jurisdictions they are closely
grouped and placed at the South of the altar, one to the East, one South and one West.
Another variant is formed by enlarging the triangle thus formed so that one light is
East of the altar, another South and the third West, all being so placed that they do no
interfere with the ceremonial. All of these may be no more than compact variants
which have evolved from the English form.

A form which may have been in general use throughout the northeastern section of
this country is a radical departure from anything thus far explained. The lights are
grouped one to the East, one Southeast and one West, the East and West tapers being
parallel to a line drawn longitudinally through the lodge and the East and Southeast
parallel to a North and South one. They were in close proximity and were we to bisect
the lodge with an East and West line and then quarter it by one drawn North and
South, the situation of this triangle would be about the center of the northeast quarter.

The old French charts show the lights placed as you do, one in the Northeast comer,
one in the Southeast and the third in the Southwest, although even they seem to have
no uniformity. Generally it would seem that one light was added for each degree so
that in the third degree instead of there being only one light in each comer there were
three.

The possible evolution of these variants would be a subject for interesting
speculation, but it would probably be no more than speculation. Ritualistic evidence
is strangely lacking on this point. One seems as correct as another, and at least the
Wyoming practice has the approval of age.

REQUEST FOR BACK NUMBERS

The Book Department has a demand for ten or twelve copies of THE BUILDER for
October, 1923, and also for August and November, 1918, and November, 1919. If any
members of the Society or other readers of THE BUILDER have copies of these
numbers that they would be willing to dispose of will they please communicate with
us?